Recycled
by LouiseWolff
Summary: She wakes at the end of this cycle, Her mission is to aid the species fighting against the Reapers, but nothing is that simple. Especially when She looses Her memories, only remembering those not Her own. AT & OCs future Femslash
1. A late awakening

**A/N: Since I'm really just beginning with this fanfic, this is the new (and improved) fic I started writing instead of my first ME fanfic, Faithless, I had a few good ideas that didn't fit into that story anymore, so I decided to start anew. Since the story is still in it's toddler years, consider this a glance at what's to come ;)  
Oh and the spoken words in ****_Italics _****are translated from an unkown language.**

ATTENTION: I am currently rewriting this! I've improved a lot since I started and I want to get rid of the loose ends, inconsistent facts etc. etc.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect. If I did... well, let's say a LOT of things wouldn't have made sense to you. Besides, it'd be totally awesome! Well, for me. :)**

* * *

**A Mass Effect fanfiction:**

**Recycled**

**1- A late awakening**

"_Reactivation sequence initialized, cryogenic suspension deactivating."_ sounded the lone mechanic voice amidst the ruin.

The pod slid outside with a hiss. Only opening to reveal a frozen body inside.

_"Stasis wearing off..."_

The body began showing signs of life, a ragged breathing started in its chest, eyes moving behind closed eyelids. But once they flew open, the body had completely restored to previous function.

_"What-"_ She exclaimed when Her opened eyes were met with darkness and Her ears with silence. She gripped the edge of the pod and hauled Herself out of it, Her movements jerky and Her mind barely conscious.

She landed on hands and knees on the dusty ground, coughing when clouds of it wafted into Her face.  
Memories flooded Her mind, the deaths, the destruction, the despair, the last hope.  
She pushed Herself up from the ground and stared at the pod She came from, then at Her surroundings.  
The hope She felt was immediately obliterated. The pods were dark. She was alone.

_"Welcome back, Goddess." _sounded near Her.

She started and whirled around, _"Ksad?"_

"No, Goddess. Merely his memory." the badly damaged hologram that filled Her vision said.

"_Vigil."_ Her shoulders slumped, it was as She feared then.

_"The others?"_ She asked nonetheless.

_"I am sorry, Goddess. I had to deactivate the cryogenic pods to save necessary power. "_ Vigil said, his form flaring and interfering.

She clenched Her jaw, closing Her eyes in grief. But She did not grieve for long.

_"How far is this cycle?"_

"_At its end."_ Vigil said, his voice alternately soft and loud.

She closed Her eyes again, this time in despair.

"_Why did you bring me back?"_ She asked, anger rising, green light flaring around Her.

"_This cycle is different. They have a chance to delay the arrival of the Reapers."  
"How?"_

"_I awoke the last twelve scientists. They left through the Conduit to ensure the Citadel could not be used as a Relay for the reapers. They did not return, however I believe they may have succeeded." _Vigil's form was fading, and She knew it was not long before the VI would use its last power.

_"How do you know this?" _She asked, fighting the despair that threatened to taint Her soul.

"_They came here, the indoctrinated. But there were others, organics. They were still fighting."_

_"Organics... Asari?"_ She exclaimed surprised.

"_There was an asari, yes. But also humans, they left through the Conduit, I have given them a way to deactivate the Citadel. I have awoken you to assist them."_ Vigil said.

_"How much time?"_

_"Ten minutes."_ Vigil was inevitably fading.

_"Please, what more can you tell me?"_ She asked desperately.

_"Find Shepard."_

_"Shepard?"_

_"You know your duty, Goddess. You are this cycle's last hope."_ and with that he finally disappeared.

"_I will not let you down."_ She whispered, bowing her head.  
She glanced to the deactivated pods, _"nor will I you."_

She awoke Her inner power, green light swirling around her, the air crackling with raw energy. She whispered one last goodbye to the last of Her kind, whom She would never lay eyes upon again.

Then She ran, faster than the wind, green energy boosting every step of the way. She ignored the lifeless pods in the long trenches, reaching far to all sides, even above Her. She could not acknowledge the death of the entire race, not yet. She had a mission to complete.

She came across bodies, not organic, synthetic. The asari and the humans Vigil mentioned must have had a good head start. She was surprised that Her body functioned optimally after ten-thousands of years frozen in time. But She was different from them, She had been here before them, and they had seen Her as a Goddess. A name She resented, but respected.

Now, however, Her focus was on saving this new cycle, or going down with it. Either way, She would finally know peace.

Music reached Her ears, not beautiful and fleeting, but raw and rough. It was the music of violence. She forced Herself to sprint even faster, almost being able to outrun the light She emitted for a short moment, but then She halted Her movements.

The Conduit, She had seen it before, but never active.  
Blue light swirled in a circle-like motion in the machine. They had truly done it then, they had uncovered the secrets of the Mass Relays.

She had no time to stare in wonder however, She did not see the asari nor the humans, which meant they already passed. She took one second to glance over the rough terrain She had to cross. Still functioning synthetics had not yet noticed Her presence, they were too busy regaining control of their motor-controls in the various states of destruction they were in. No doubt the organics had caused this. She wondered what these synthetics were, what were they doing here? Were they created by the Reapers, or were they simply thralls?

Still forming these questions in Her head She rushed over to the small relay and took one huge leap, boosting Herself with green energy, and entered the swirling blue light just before it shut down.

She opened her Eyes wide, taking in the feeling of weightlessness and impossible speed during the short journey, and before She knew it She was thrown towards solid ground.

She landed with a cat-like grace however, more than familiar with combat situations. She had been seen as a Goddess, and that title did not come without power.

She recognised the place She was in, even through the debris and various stages of destruction She saw that She was standing in the Citadel.

It was obvious this cycle had used it like Hers. Painful flashbacks played across Her eyes when she saw the ground strewn with bodies, liquid of various colours slushing around Her feet. Disgust was clearly visible on her face, but She could not dwell. Not now, not yet.

She followed a corridor not yet touched by destruction and saw another body lying on the ground. It had clearly hauled itself to safety, leaving a trail of red behind.  
She knelt near the still breathing vessel and observed, refraining from showing any emotion. It was human, though different than in Her memories.

It sensed Her presence and opened its eyes. It took some time to focus but when the eyes finally saw Her they widened in awe.

"Wha- What are you?" it asked, coughing.

She cocked her head in curiosity, this was the first time She heard a human speak. They had evolved better than expected. Nevertheless it was a language She did not know. She sighed, there was only one way.  
She gently reached out her fingers, ignoring the fearful look the human gave Her. It was scared, but too wounded to fight back. She smiled bitterly, She doubted it would survive-

* * *

_He had only been on this goddamned place for two days and all hell broke loose, no-one said anything about this kind of freighter! Hell, no-one knew how the Geth had pulled this off..._

_…_

"_-Commander Shepard, first human spectre!"_

_He politely clapped his hands, finally humanity was recognised, even if it was that bitch that took the throne._

…

"_The Citadel. That's what I'm talking about, son." the man in front of him said while throwing him a smile. He could only stare through the reinforced glass as their ship entered the gigantic arms of the Citadel.  
"Big place!" was all he could say._

"_Yeah, that's what they all say." the man said._

…_._

"_Fuck, fuck, fuck!" he said while gripping his leg, blood pouring from the bullet hole.  
"Suck it up, marine." someone hissed at him._

_He glared at the woman next to him.  
"Is there a problem, marine?" she said, her tone mocking and challenging._

"_No, ma'am!" he said gritting his teeth.  
Commander fucking Shepard is a bitch... just, great._

* * *

"Holy fuck!" the human man screamed while She gritted her teeth and waited for the pain in Her head to subside, She had not been as strong as She thought. She tried to process all the information as fast as possible. The races thought that they were being attacked by synthetics called geth, while in reality it was a Reaper. This was... inconvenient.

"You're a- I saw-" the man sputtered.

"I am from a different cycle, you saw the destruction of our race." She said in the human language, observing the human curiously. There was a person in his memory who was interesting, powerful, the one Vigil told Her to look for.

"Fuck... So that thing out there, it's not geth?" the man asked, groaning when he tried to sit straighter.

"No."

"Shit I need to- I need to warn the fleets!" he said, panting as he tried to get up.

"Do not move, you will die." She said, pushing him down.

"Great, thanks for the support." the man said in a strange tone.

She recognised it as sarcasm, it was something humans used commonly.

"There is a woman in your memories, a powerful woman. Shepard."

"Her? What the hell do you want with her?" the man asked, surprised and bitter at how everything was always about that woman.

"She can help save this cycle."

"Huh. Saviour of the whole freakin' galaxy. The bitch would love that." the man coughed, "I don't know where she is. She's supposed to be chasing this rogue turian, Saren."

"Turians... yes, I saw them in your memory."

He stared at Her, finally realising what She was saying, "you saw... my memories?"

"As you saw mine." she bowed Her head, knowing exactly what horrors he witnessed.

"That's fucked up."

An explosion rocked the floor and walls, throwing the man back against the wall. He gasped for breath when new blood exited his wounds. He struggled, but his skin was already a ghostly white. He was dying.

She wanted to help him, but She knew a lost case when She saw it.

_"May you find peace with my ancestors, human. I will try to honour your loss."_ She said in Her own language, Her hands on his forehead to ease the passing.  
He blinked slowly, then closed his eyes. With the release of his last breath his body slumped and fell to the side.

She bowed Her head in a brief sense of loss, She had seen his entire life, therefore he would be another addition to the list of mourning.

She raised and walked towards the elevator that would take Her to the council, She knew the way now. She knew the importance of telling them that the very ground they were standing on would be the source of their annihilation. But when She reached the place where the elevator should have been, the doors opened to reveal a gaping hole.

_"No!" _She screamed in Her mind as all the air left Her and She was flung into space. She managed to grab onto a metal plate, but Her body was already demanding oxygen. She pulled Herself inside again, using the green energy to strengthen Her shaking limbs.

But Her strength was fading. She had used too much in her rush to the Conduit, and now She paid for it. Her body was not as restored as She had thought, but She should have known! Of course Her body would be weak after being frozen for fifty-thousand years-... It was too late. She was thrown back outside by another explosion near to Her. She could not find the strength to grab hold of anything solid, and slowly floated towards Her own death.

It was pathetic to die like this.

She had a clear view of the Reaper assaulting the citadel now, to Her surprise it was attacked by many ships, and they were actually doing noticeable damage. Then, suddenly, with a flash of bright scarlet, the Reaper released its hold of the Citadel tower and was torn apart by massive explosions. And in the midst of all the violence was a small ship that delivered the last blow.

It was a magnificent sight, the annihilation of a Reaper in complete silence.

At least Her heart was hopeful now, their arrival was delayed for this cycle. Maybe they could win this time. It was a shame she could never see it. A shame She would... never know peace again.

She was unconscious by the time She was picked up by one of the ships that had been attacking the Reaper. Two soldiers exited the ship in their suits, their pilot carefully manoeuvring the ship so that they could get a hold of Her arms and pull Her inside. Her body was barely alive.

But Her body automatically started breathing when there was air again to breathe, and the best scientists were willing to experiment a little to restore this new species, if only to ask it why it attacked the Citadel.

They thought She was the one behind the attack.

They couldn't have been more wrong.

* * *

"_No!"_ She screamed as they hurt Her again and again, asking in their language what She was, why She did it. So many questions, so much pain.

_"I'm not your enemy!"_ She screamed over and over, but they didn't understand Her, so they hurt Her again.

But it was enough, they had done enough. She was a Goddess, they should bow to Her! She would show them the wrath of a Goddess.  
The raw power built within her each time Her body cried out in pain. Fear filled their eyes when they were enveloped with green energy. Their blood painted the walls when She pulled them apart with it.

She broke from Her restraints and sped away, leaving a path of destruction in Her wake. She only stopped when She was far away, the threat gone, and Her body breaking when She realised what She had done.

"No, no..." She said as She broke down in sobs, leaning against the filthy wall of a building. It was too much, the loss of Her people. The cruelty of these, all the death. All the _blood_.

"Are you okay?" a small voice asked nearby.

She looked up to see a girl, not quite yet an adult by human terms, looking at Her concerned.

"Go away." She said in their language.

"Are you hurt?" the girl said, walking over.

"Yes- No! Please, leave me." She said, fearing for the girl's safety, Her blood was still rushing, the blood-lust not yet gone.

"You're bleeding." the girl said, now so close that she could touch Her.

She recoiled from her touch. It was pathetic, She was like a wounded animal

"You need to go." She said through gritted teeth when She felt her body start to shiver.

"No, I won't leave you." the girl said stubbornly.

And she made the mistake of touching Her.

Both their bodies convulsed and She was wrapped in green light. Tendrils reached out to the girl's body. Her body slowly disintegrated while the green energy slowly poured into the girl. And then, with a single bright flash, only one body was left.

She coughed and scrambled to her feet, looking around her with surprise.

"What the hell? Where is she?" she mumbled as she shook her head, she had a killer head-ache.

She stumbled away from the alley and went back home, her brother wasn't gonna believe this shit.

* * *

**I imagine your faces are all like 0_o wtf just happened? Yeah, me too, me too, except I ****_do_**** know what happened... I know I'm evil.  
Seriously, I hope you liked it though, because I'm definitely making this more than a five-chapter story.  
Anyhow, If you got any ideas or comments, review! I'd appreciate it greatly ^^**


	2. Just a routine mission

**A/N: So here's the new and shiney unbeta'd chapter! I read it over a second time (and rewrote a hell of a lot) so if there are any inconsistencies please do let me know.**

**DISCLAIMER: I'm in my finals, I don't even have a job. Everything belongs to Bioware and associates, well,_ almost_ everything...**

* * *

**Just another routine mission**

Just another routine mission, they said. And now she was dead, at least, she'd be dead soon. This she knew as she saw the disintegrating Normandy silently grow smaller and smaller, as she herself floated away without anything to hold on to.

It was an eerie silence, but somehow peaceful. she never expected her death to be so... silent, so insignificant. She'd always thought she'd die a heroic death in the frenzy of battle, bloody wounds that seeped life, sounds of violence all around, the cries of her squad to send her along on her way, towards that empty nothingness called death. But fate was ironic, always had been. Of course Kaileigh Shepard, sole survivor of Akuze, Hero of the Skyllian blitz, first human Spectre and saviour of the citadel and its goddamned council, would not die in battle.

It was only until she heard the faint hissing of escaping air and the blazing alarms of her suit, that she relaxed her rigid muscles and let go of the tension that had controlled her life. she had always been ready for a fight, she always expected an attack, especially the last few weeks. She'd saved the citadel, sovereign was destroyed. Killed, more accurately. Sovereign had been _alive, _and worse, a reaper. Afterwards they had send her on mission scouting for geth. Geth!

But it wasn't geth.

She was sure of that before they even set out.

The reapers were coming. Waiting for so many years in Dark Space, observing, planning. But soon they would come, she knew, she _saw_. But it didn't matter now. she was dying, suffocating. Maybe... Maybe it was a good thing. she had always fought for _her_ life, from when she was still a kid. But now she didn't die fighting for her life, she died protecting another. It gave her peace to know this. But before she could truly embrace the silence a soft singing filled her ears. No, that was impossible, she was lost in space, she-

It was in her mind. And it grew louder. Something struck her as familiar, but the singing was foreign, alien. The chorus of sound enveloped her, filled her with a blissful light, until she finally fell into the darkness.

* * *

"There. On the monitor, something's wrong." a female voice said, concern filtering through.

She opened her eyes, blinking furiously to fight the haze that blurred her vision. She could see the shape of a woman above her.

"She's reacting to outside stimuli. Showing an awareness of surroundings." another voice said.

"Oh my god Miranda, I think she's waking up." the man who owned the voice walked into her sight, standing over her like the woman.

She gasped for air but immediately sensed breathing was difficult, it felt wrong. Only then she felt the excruciating pain everywhere in her body. Her muscles were on fire, her bones mashed to pulp and her nerves exploded each time her heart beat.

"Damn it Wilson, she's not ready yet. Give her the sedative!" the woman said urgently, but the emotion in her voice didn't even come close to panic.

"Shepard. Don't try to move, just lie still, try to stay calm." the woman pushed her raising arm down, blue eyes piercing hers. She wanted to protest, to tell her how much it hurt. But she didn't have the strength to fight. Instead she fell back taking deep breaths, cringing each time her lungs expanded.

"Heart rate still climbing, Brain activity is off the charts." the man said, he did sound panicked. Shepard could barely see him through the red haze that seemed to fill her sight. Was it blood?

"Stats pushing into the red zone, it's not working!" the man really panicked then.

"Another dose, now!" the woman said, authority ringed in her voice, mixed with something else. Anger.

Her vision blurred and the sounds slowly faded.

"Heart-rate dropping, stats falling back into normal range." the muffled sound of a relieved voice barely reached her ears. She heard the words, but didn't register them any more.

"That was too close, we almost lost her." the words floated around her, as she was wrapped in a shell of invisible water, the room around her blurry and unfocused.

"I told you the estimates were off, run the numbers again." was the last she heard before the painless darkness took hold of her again.

* * *

"Wake up, commander."

Shepard frowned confused, what the hell?

"Shepard, do you hear me? Get out of that bed now. This facility is under attack."

She groaned and shook her head, trying to clear away the fog that blocked her thinking.

"Shepard. your scars aren't healed but I need you to get moving. This facility is under attack." someone urged, the voice was familiar.

She rubbed her temples and sat up, ignoring the stabs of pain she received every time she moved.

"There's a pistol in the locker on the other side of the room. Hurry!"

She slid of the table and landed painfully on her feet, stumbling the first few steps before she could stand straight. With a quick glance she took in her surroundings. She was in some kind of medical room, expensive-looking equipment and technology all around her.

"There's a pistol and armour in the locker." the voice pressured her again.

With a grunt she began walking towards the locker in question, already annoyed by the urgent voice that increased the pounding of her head. The device slid open an revealed a full set of N7-armour, in the familiar grey and red hues. She whistled admiringly, to a civilian it would look like a bunch of plating, but to her trained eye and years of military training, this was a whole 'nother scale. The plating was reinforced, moulded with black flexible fabric that was strong enough to stop many a bullet. When she picked it up and donned the armour she felt the suit buzz to life as the muscle-enhancers and shield-generators powered up. She flexed her arms and punched the air a little, loving the feeling of power and comfort surrounding her.

"Shepard. The canisters by the door are going to blow. Get behind cover, now!" the woman urged over the speakers, only now Shepard noticed the Australian accent.

"Yeah, yeah." she mumbled annoyed as she quickly took cover behind a low glass wall in front of a human-sized device, used for who-knows what.

She felt the heat of the explosion on her face and her dishevelled black hair flicked into her eyes, why couldn't the damned woman have gotten her a helmet too! She looked over the wall to see if there was another explosion incoming. When she saw there wasn't she jumped up and flexed her back, her joints popping.

"Someone's hacking security trying to kill you, you might want to start looking for a thermal clip." the woman's voice blazed over the speakers again, this time not urgent but annoyed.

What the hell did she do to piss her off? _She_ was the one telling her what to do. Where the hell was she anyway? She saw no other people around. Please don't let that woman be the only one in- wherever she was.

She jogged over to the door that was blown open in the explosion and saw a thermal clip on the ground beside the body of a man. She knelt next to the body, there was an orange-coloured logo on the shoulder of his shirt. She didn't recognise it.

She grabbed the thermal clip and reloaded her gun, a satisfying hiss indicated it was working and ready for action. As she raised to her feet the door in front of her slid apart with the whizzing of air. The room was dark and there had obviously been fighting, what with all the bodies lying around. She started a sprint, revelling in the light feeling the suit gave her, jumped over the barricade and slid behind a crate that stood apart from the rest.

Then she heard the mechanical sounds of a mech powering-up, simultaneously with the woman yelling, "look out!"

She raised from behind the crate and took the mech out with a single shot to the head.

"Relax, I got this." she said to nowhere in particular.

He could hear the woman scoff and mumble something inaudible.

"What did you say?" she challenged.

"You need to keep moving, get to the evac shuttles." the woman said with her Australian accent, obviously ignoring her.

She sighed and got up, refraining herself from cussing at the woman. She climbed the stairs, stepping over the mutilated mech and reached another door that slid open at her touch. She entered a lab that had obviously seen better days, but before she could think anything more the door from across the room slid open and revealed more advancing mechs.

"Thanks for the warning." she muttered sarcastically.

She didn't wait for a reply and began shooting the mechs. When the last one fell (exploded was a better description) she wiped her brow. This was wearing her out fast. She gritted his teeth and all but rolled her eyes when another wave of mechs came at her, now from a door on the far left of the room.

"Okay, now you're gonna get it. Fuckers." she spit at her hands, rubbed them together and spiked up her biotics. She grinned when they stirred within her.

She jumped up from behind cover and threw a mech up in the air with dark energy, steering it so that it clashed with two others, causing and explosion when she released a well-aimed shot at one of their heads, taking them all out with a blast. She was too slow to evade another shot however and cursed at the teeth-jarring impact. She quickly ducked behind cover again. She was glad for her shields but her body was weak and vulnerable, she could even feel her biotics draining her already.  
Shots rang around the room and more than a few bullets hit the low wall she was hiding behind, much too close to her head for her liking.

"Just die already." she grunted and began shooting at the remaining two mechs, not caring about her cover any more. She needed a total of eleven shots to take them down, way more than usual. She shook her head, she was in deep shit.

"Nice work, Shepard. The coast is clear." the woman said.

"Oh, now you talk." she scoffed.

"Shepard?"

"Yeah."

"Shut up and get moving."

She mock-saluted and got on her way, blocking out the screaming scientists who were being gunned down by a big-ass YMIR-mech, denting the blood-splattered windows. She needed all the focus on putting one foot in front of the other now, even though everything inside her screamed to help them. But she knew she would be lucky if she alone got out alive, her body was slow and clumsy.

"Don't waste time, I can't keep the mechs distracted for long!"

"I'm trying!" Shepard said through gritted teeth while she rounded a corner. Bodies strewn over the ground greeted her, adding to her already churning stomach.  
She stumbled through the door and fell on her knees just before a grenade launcher.

"More reinforcements on the way!" the woman warned her.

Shepard threw her pistol to the side and grabbed the grenade launcher, then she crawled to the railing, aiming at the door. When it opened she shot twice, blowing the mechs sky-high, together with one of the storage containers filled with gas. She turned and collapsed against the railing, sagging through her knees, panting heavily and blinking away reddish sweat that dripped into her eyes. She realised with a uneasy twist in her stomach that she was sweating blood.

"Fuck." she said as she wiped her brow.

"Shepard, you need to take the elevator down." the woman said impatiently, with a slight tinge of worry. No doubt she saw the red sheen on Shepard's skin via the many camera's Shepard had already seen throughout the facility.

"Who are you anyway-" Shepard asked, breaking into gut-wrenching coughs. Great, she was coughing up blood too.

"Are you okay?" the woman asked, now she sounded genuinely worried.

"Yeah, no worries." she said breathless, pushing herself away from the railing.

She stumbled towards the elevator, scrambling up the pistol and grenade launcher and putting them in the assigned slots of her armour. When she got down she groaned as she saw the flaming gas was still escaping from the container she had just blown up.

"Hurry! Get to the door! Run!" the woman called to her.

She took a deep breath and broke into a sprint, fighting the flashes of lighting that wrecked through her lungs and muscles when she went straight through the fire. She leaned on her knees gasping for breath on the other side, she felt like punching something, she was so goddamned weak!

"You're doing-... Shepard, head to the...-meet you!"

Shepard frowned and glanced around the corridor she was in but there were no enemies who caused the interference. It must be on the woman's side then.

The last she could her was "-Shepard? -read me? I've got...-closing in...-position!" and then the speakers went silent.

Shepard sighed, "and I was just getting to like her."

She limped toward the only present door, each breath stinging her lungs. But she ignored the pain, if there's one thing she learned in her long years of military training and the fight against Saren and the geth, it was that there were worse things than pain. Failure was not an option, even if she didn't know where the fuck she was and what the hell was happening.

She stumbled into another corridor. She first went into the room opposite of her, hoping to find some medigel. The only thing she found was two malfunctioning mechs and a few laptops, two of them still running recent data logs. One was of a certain Wilson, whose voice she recognised to be the man's who had been there when she first woke up. He whined a little about his boss and talked about a project costing over four billion credits, Shepard shook her head unbelieving, that was one hell of a project! Still, who was this organization and why spend four billion creds on one single project?

She went to the other laptop and played the last log. The image of a woman appeared. The same woman that had been there when she first awoke, and the one that had spoken to her over the speakers just a few minutes ago. The most striking about her was her beauty, Shepard snorted, there's no way that this woman had been born like this. Considering the gigantic leap technology had taken since the discovery of Prothean construction on mars, plastic surgery was common and beyond improved. Most people look twenty when they were forty, and then looked thirty for another forty years.

Then the image began talking, and Shepard decided that this woman had a brain matching her perfect appearance. She talked about a 'subject' and it's recovery, with a _lot_ of strings attached.

What was it that these people were _doing_ for god's sake?

She left the room that had no medigel whatsoever. Really, these people had cutting edge technology and little miss perfect walking around, but no goddamned medigel when it was needed most.

Fucking perfect.

* * *

**A/N: Just for the record, I'm not planning to recite the entire game, I will take a turn a little further into the story, but now I just need to lay down the world and the people, expecially Shepard.**

**Anyway, I hope you liked it! I'm already writing chapter 3, which will probably end just before or in Freedom's Progress, where we will meet the lovely Tali'Zorah ^^**


	3. Whiny Wilson

**A/N Okay, sorry for the wait, but here the next chapter, completely unbeta'd! So, if there's somebody out there interested in being my beta, it'd be much appreciated. :)**

* * *

**Whiny Wilson**

When she climbed the stairs she heard someone call her name. She glanced to the left and was just in time to see how a man was blown to smithereens by another YMIR-mech. Shepard flinched when the rocket hit the window, but it didn't break. She stared at the blood splattered across the window and shivered involuntarily. That was something she didn't like to see, wherever, whenever.

There was another laptop here, constantly replaying the same message. Wilson whining again, this time about a woman called Miranda. So that was little-miss-perfect's name... Huh, he called her ice-queen, good one. Though Shepard had to admit that she kinda owned this woman her life, even though she was sure that Miranda was very hard to like, and probably easy to piss off.

Wonderful.

Her sulking was interrupted when she heard the sounds of gunfire on the other side of a closed door. As good and bad as she could she barged through while pulling her pistol from its slot and immediately found herself being shot at.

"Fucking mechs." she muttered when she started returning the bullets, straining to aim right while her vision was blurry.

"Shepard! What the hell..." said a man she hadn't noticed before, his eyes widened in shock when he saw the blood-soaked commander and he mistakenly assumed she had been in some rough fights. She ignored him and decapitated two mechs in a lucky-stroke, then she quickly ducked into cover as more mechs entered the balcony on the other side of the room. She refused to admit she was also swaying on her legs and she needed the support.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were still a work in progress!" the man asked. He was dark skinned with dark eyes, his dark hair shaved short in a military cut, the picture completed with a hipster-ish goatee.

How 'bout tall, dark and handsome, she thought, snickering to herself. She didn't say it out loud however and smiled weakly while clutching her side, trying to breathe normally, "I don't know fuck, how 'bout you fill me in a little?"

"Damn.. yeah, I guess this is all new for you." he said while shaking his head.

She scoffed, "you think?"

"Okay, here's the quick version. Your ship got destroyed and you got spaced, dead as dead can be when they brought you in. Our scientists spent the last two years putting you back together. Welcome back to your life." he said. She couldn't make out if he was being sarcastic or not.

"That's-... two years?" was all she could say.

"Yeah, you've been comatose -or worse- that whole time." the man said.

Shepard closed her eyes for a second, processing the information. She didn't remember much. The Normandy being attacked, hauling joker's ass into a shuttle and then... Nothing.

"The crew, did they survive?" she asked softly.

"Most of them did, I don't know names though." he said.

Strangely she didn't feel relieved, but that was probably because of the rude awakening and those disturbing last memories.

"Look, I get that you have questions, but we need to get out of here." he cut through her thoughts, glancing uneasy at the mechs who were still shooting at them.

"Fine, at least tell me your name."

"Jacob Taylor, at your service." he saluted.

"Okay, let's show those mechs not to mess with us." Shepard grinned, pushing her pain and fatigue as far away as she could. She refrained from using any of her biotic abilities though , but released a flurry of shots at the mechs while Jacob used his biotics to throw them around. It was not long before they were all motionless heaps of scrap-metal playing for carpet.

She motioned for the door and Jacob followed her, but they were interrupted by Whiny Wilson contacting Jacob with his omni-tool.

"Wilson? We're at D-wing, Shepard's with me." Jacob answered, his eyes unfocused and wandering when he concentrated on what Wilson was saying.

"Shepard's alive? How the- shit! They found me!" Shepard could just make out the words coming through Jacob's earpiece. Strange... she wasn't supposed to be able to hear them.

"Where are you?" Jacob said with a strained voice.

"Server room B, hurry!" came Wilson's panicked reply.

"Shepard, Wilson is-" Jacob began.

"I heard, let's go." she interrupted him. Jacob didn't have time to wonder how because Shepard barged right through the door... into another group of mechs.

"Just how many are there?" she yelled at him over the gunfire.

"Looks like ever mech in the station wants us dead." Jacob replied.

"Yeah, I'm beginning to think they're attracted to me." Shepard joked, causing Jacob to chuckle.

He still hadn't processed that Shepard was actually alive and kicking, _literally_. Her aim was lethal and her hearing was better than perfect, she hadn't used her biotics yet but he knew that in her state that would've been a miracle. He admitted, he and Miranda had a... difficult relationship, but the woman could work miracles.

He followed close behind as Shepard walked through the corridors of the space-station, occasionally taking out mechs with a flick of her wrist, a bullet in their system before they could process it. But now he noticed that she wasn't as strong as he had first assumed. Her shoulders were slumped, her feet dragged and a thin sheen of reddish sweat covered her face.

"Shepard, you okay?" he asked worried.

"I'm fine." she managed through gritted teeth. Truth was that her sight was getting worse and her reflexes slow, not to mention that it felt like she didn't get enough oxygen no matter how much she breathed it in.

"-orders were clear, make Shepard exactly who she was before. The same mind, the same morals, the same personality."

Shepard turned when she heard Miranda's voice, but all she could see was a blurred version of a laptop.

"If we alter her identity in any way, if she's somehow not the woman she used to be, the Lazarus Project will have failed, and I refuse to let that happen."

Then she knew it, the project that had cost over four billion creds, the one Wilson and Miranda talked about, and the project of rebuilding her that Jacob told her about, were one and the same. Of course, she should have realised sooner, everything pointed to the truth. How could she have been so blind?

"Shepard?" Jacob's uncertain voice sounded from behind her.

She turned on her heel and walked past him, "I'm all right."

His worried eyes followed her and he wondered what exactly was going on in the woman's head. Shepard hadn't much time to process this new information however, because when the door opened Whiny Wilson began whining.

"Shepard, Jacob! Over here!" he called from his crumpled position on the ground.

Shepard scanned the room when she walked over, something was off.

"Wilson, are you okay?" Jacob said worriedly, squatting down next to Wilson.

"Of course I'm not okay, the bastard got me in the leg!" he whined.

Shepard scoffed and walked towards the thing she had been searching for the entire time, a first aid station. She retrieved three packages of medigel and tossed one to Jacob. Then she applied another to herself. The effects were immediate, her vision cleared, her fatigue faded and her muscles stopped aching. Blinking she looked around the room, and noticed what was off. There were bodies, but no mechs. She took a closed look at one of the bodies, the bullet wounds were located in strange places, in the back. Not in the front as you'd expect from a battle.

No, these people had been taken out by something, or someone, who they trusted.

Whiny Wilson was more cunning than she'd given him credit for. Said person slowly raised to his feet with the medigel on his self-inflicted bullet wound, muttering curses when he stumbled. She wasn't sure what to do, take him out now or wait it out.

"Shepard, before we go..." Jacob began. Wilson obviously wanted to say something, but Jacob shot him a glare Shepard could learn from.

She sighed, great, here we go.

"Project Lazarus, the project dedicated to bringing you back, was funded and performed by Cerberus."

She wasn't sure what she had expected, but not this.

"Fuck, Cerberus?" she exclaimed, her hand automatically brushing the butt of her gun.

"Yeah. But just hear the Illusive man out before you do anything rash." Jacob said, his hands in the air while he backed away a little.

She couldn't believe her ears, "The Illusive man? What the hell does that bastard want with me?"

"I don't know, my pay isn't high enough to know these things. Let's just... get off this station and then we'll talk."

Shepard grumbled, "fine, but only because you saved my ass."

Jacob relaxed relieved, he was glad he got that off his chest, and even happier about the fact Shepard didn't put a bullet in his head. Wilson just started walking towards the other exit, tempting Shepard with his back, she really wanted to shoot something right now. Luckily, her request was granted, because more mechs came rushing into the room, oblivious of their doom. Wilson visibly paled when he saw Shepard in action. She snickered to herself, as if she'd even let him make an attempt on her life, the fool.

Despite the medigel the fighting tired her out fast, it wasn't long before her vision started to get blurry again. She saw Wilson look pleased, but maybe she'd imagined it, she wasn't sure. It was when they reached the door of the shuttle bay that she had to stop to take a breath, leaning against the wall. Wilson opened the door to the shuttle bay and then turned around.

"Are you okay?" Wilson asked, pretending to be worried. He walked over to her, a needle in hand, "here, this'll get you patched up."

Just before her reached her she pulled out her pistol and shot him in the chest, simultaneously another shot rang through the room. Two small red circles bloomed on his chest and he fell on the ground with a gurgle, eyes still wide open.

"It seems I wasn't the only one seeing through his games." a very familiar voice with an Australian accent said.

Shepard looked up from the body to see a somewhat vague version of Miranda walking towards her. That her vision wasn't 100% didn't hide the fact that the woman was utterly gorgeous, and that she _swaggered _when she walked.

"How did you know?" Miranda asked, watching the woman before her curiously. The images of the various camera's through the facility hadn't lied, Shepard looked like hell.

She smirked, "his wound was self inflicted, there were no mechs in the room, the bodies had wounds in the back, which meant someone took them by surprise, someone they trusted. Also, he seemed a bit too happy to see I was weakening. He was very whiny too, but I think he already was that before he betrayed you.

"I wondered why he was there instead of the bio-wing." Jacob mumbled, eyeing the body with disgust.

"Impressive." Miranda said.

Shepard raised her eyebrows in surprise, did little miss perfect just give her a compliment?

"We need to go." she said immediately after.

Right back to the point, Shepard thought chuckling, "Good idea, I'm looking forward to meet Mister creep-eye."

Miranda sighed audibly, "Jacob?"

"I told her we worked for Cerberus, it just didn't seem right to keep it from her." he shrugged.

"You and your damn conscience." Miranda mumbled, probably what she thought was too soft for Shepard to hear. She didn't know Shepard had actually very good hearing, which Shepard smugly decided she liked to keep that way.

Miranda turned on her heels and went into the shuttle-bay, evidently expecting them to follow her. Jacob followed her with puppy-eyes, which wasn't so hard, cause he had puppy-eyes no matter what kind of expression he wore. Shepard however tried very hard not to trip over anything, cause she wasn't sure she'd be able to get up again. Finally she reached a shuttle and climbed aboard, Miranda already plotting a course to wherever they were going. To meet Mr. Cybereye, if she believed Jacob.

Well, wouldn't want to keep him waiting, did we?

* * *

**A/N: Maybe you've already noticed by reading a bit through the lines, but Shepard already knows the Illusive man... DunDunDun, but how? ;)**

**So after (and a little bit during) Freedom's progress the story will get a bit more AT/AU, eventually a lot more, but that time will come. And for those of you wondering, yes, the first chapter is very important for the coming story!**


	4. The Illusive Jackass

**A/N: So this chapter is kind of a courtesy from me, since I won't be posting stories for a week, cause I'll be without internet... Yes, I hope to survive... I do hope to do some more writing since I'll have plenty of time for that now ;)**

* * *

**The Illusive Jackass**

"Before you speak to the Illusive man we need to ask you a few questions, to evaluate your condition." Miranda began.

"Is that really necessary? She's not at her best right now." Jacob protested.

"I'm fine, Jacob." Shepard said through gritted teeth, wiping away the reddish sweat that covered her brow again.

Immediately after the shuttle left Miranda insisted on applying another pack of medigel, but it had little to no effect. Shepard knew that her condition was serious, but she wasn't about to break down in front of Cerberus. Cerberus! She snorted, what's with the name anyway. Like the name of the three-headed hound stalking the underworld was going to leave a good impression of humanity, talk about a paradox.

Miranda ignored Jacob and continued, "The Illusive man needs to know if your personality and memories are intact, Shepard."

"Well tell the Illusive jackass that I remember him all too well, and that the answer is still no." she scoffed.

Miranda frowned disapprovingly but didn't take the bait, which amused and disappointed Shepard at the same time. She switched on her omni-tool and searched through several files, "The mission on Akuze, what happened?"

"The Thresher maw happened," Shepard said bitterly, "that monster took out my whole squad, and he took me."

If Miranda was puzzled about Shepard's words she didn't show it, instead she continued, "Virmire, you left gunnery chief Williams to die in the blast-"

"And I fucking hate myself for it, is that what you want to hear?" Shepard spat out, the memory wrenching out the worst out of her. She was tired, she was hurting, she just found out she had been dead, she didn't know if any of her friends were still alive, she lost two fucking years... And now this woman, this _Cerberus _lapdog, dared to bring back the most painful memories she had?

"Ash was a good soldier, and above all a good friend. Choosing between her and Kaidan... I'd rather had another Thresher maw attack me. Hell, if I could I would've taken her place! So don't-" she cut herself of, she had already said too much. She clenched her jaw and looked out the window, away from the stares of Jacob and Miranda. She could sense Jacob's uneasiness, but she had no idea what went on in Miranda's head. The woman was unreadable.

"I didn't mean to offend, Commander." she said, emphasizing the last word, almost making it sound mocking. The words didn't sound like an apology, it was more like she was stating a fact instead of showing compassion.

There was one thing Shepard agreed on with Wilson, Miranda was a cold-hearted bitch. But, she was a bitch with very nice assets, that she couldn't deny. She groaned mentally, really? Was her body so fucked up that she went from an emotional overload to admiring Miranda's _assets_? She needed to sleep, preferably without armour on and in a bed, not on some medical table.

The remains of the trip was made in silence. Eventually Jacob couldn't take the tense atmosphere anymore and he went back to the cockpit, flopping down into the empty pilot's chair. He wasn't sure what Miranda's deal was, but she was on edge, more so than usual. Maybe it was because Shepard was clearly in a very bad condition, Miranda tended to get a little... tense, if her work got into danger. And Shepard... Reviving her was the biggest and most important project Miranda had worked on in her entire life, now that it was in danger, she became cold, clinical, calculating.

A side of Miranda Jacob never liked to see.

He wasn't sure what to think of Shepard, though. She was good at what she did, that much was clear. He wasn't sure he had ever seen anyone fight this good, especially considering her condition. But she was unpredictable. One moment she's joking and the next she lashes out. Her emotions were probably a confused mess right now, he couldn't even begin to imagine how it was like to come back from the dead and discover you've missed two years.

He shook his head and leaned back in the chair. He sure as hell hoped she was up to the job. As much as he liked to deny it, those colonies didn't disappear because of slavers. No, this was bigger, much bigger.

They were in for the fight of their lives, and the soldier in him couldn't help but revel in it.

They were walking through one of the airlocks of the Cerberus station after their ship had been parked safely in between docking clamps. As much as Shepard hated it, she needed Jacob's support to walk. Even Miranda had started fussing over her when it was evident she couldn't walk. A few snide remarks surely turned that attitude around. Now little-miss-perfect was walking ahead of them, her shoulders tense and her fists balled.

God Commander Shepard was such an...an... Miranda gave up on finding a fitting word, she'd never met anyone so stubborn before. The woman was arrogant, immature and violent. She couldn't believe that this was supposed to be the saviour of the galaxy...

They entered a sitting room next to the labs, to much relief of Shepard. She sat down on one of the chairs with a groan, struggling to catch her breath.

"We can't present her to the Illusive man like this." Miranda said.

Shepard was too tired to be hurt by this remark, as if she was an animal that needed to looks its best to get the highest bidder. Instead she leaned her elbows on her knees, gritting her teeth at the pain it caused her. As stubborn as she was, she knew she couldn't go on much longer.

"I'll inform the Illusive man of the events. Jacob, get Shepard to an infirmary."

"Yes, ma'am." he saluted. As Miranda walked away without even so much as glancing one more time at Shepard, Jacob helped her up from the chair and guided her through the station to the infirmary.

As soon as he was sure she was taken care of he began searching for a bed to sleep on himself. It had been a tiring day and he was in much need of some shut-eye.

Shepard couldn't deny Cerberus was good at its job. She felt like she'd been sleeping for a full week, even though it was just a meagre night. She was still a little stiff and her skin was sensitive, but other than that she felt surprisingly normal. Which was a miracle since she had been _dead _the past two years... Now, as she stood in an empty room save for the glowing outlines of a circle on the ground, she was going to find out why Cerberus, under orders of the Illusive man, had brought her back.

"Commander Shepard." he greeted her as her image appeared on the quantum entangler in his room. Seconds before her arrival he had dimmed the lights and opened the shutters of the viewing window behind him with the sound of his voice. He knew the dying red giant-class M star behind him would give him the intimidating posture he deserved, and needed. People needed to see, rather than only know, his presence as a powerful one.

"Illusive man, we meet again." the woman before him greeted back, with a slight hint of amusement in her voice.

He noticed her stance was hostile, but the fact that she was standing at all pleased him.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, more out of courtesy than of interest. He liked to talk business, succinctly and without formalities. Except the ones that were necessary to uphold his reputation, of course.

Shepard knew all too well the power of the man before her, who was now sipping of his drink without taking his glowing eyes off her, and knew that she was playing a dangerous game. The Illusive man wasn't known for his patience, and neither was she. Combine that with the disastrous little chat they had had so many years ago... She hadn't much option but to play nice if she valued her life. She had one huge advantage however; it was the Illusive man that had gone to such great lengths to bring her back. Knowing him he was not easily tempted to discard this kind of investment.

"I've felt better." she said, hoping to clear the air a little.

He smiled and reached into the breast pocket of his tailored jacket, pulled out a silver case, flipped open the top and slipped out a cigarette. He then reached inside his pocket again, replacing the case with a lighter, lighting the cigarette with a flick of his thumb. He inhaled the smoke, letting it fill his lungs, as he put back the lighter.

"Not surprising, considering your condition." he said, smoke billowing from his mouth as he spoke.

Shepard was glad she was a holographic imagine, she really couldn't stand smoking. Even though nicotine wasn't longer harmful to the human body, she never really liked what it stood for. Especially since the Illusive man was the biggest chain-smoker she knew.

"Yes, it seems that death is not as permanent as it seems." she chuckled darkly, "So why did you bring me back?"

The Illusive man smiled again, the woman hadn't changed much since their last encounter. Miranda had done a wonderful job.

"While you've been... sleeping, entire colonies have been disappearing."

"What does that have to do with me?" she asked, folding her arms together.

"You and I both know how fragile our place in the universe is, especially considering what happened barely three years ago." He said, tapping his cigarette with his middle finger above the ashtray in the armrest of his chair.

"The geth attack?"

"Sovereign." he frowned, maybe Shepard's memory wasn't as intact as he liked to think.

"The Reapers are behind the abductions?" Shepard asked worriedly.

"We suspect so, yes." he replied, "or at least something working for the Reapers."

"So why bring _me_ back? You could've trained an entire army with the money you spent on me."

"I didn't only bring you back because you're good at your job, Shepard. You bested all of them, you're humanities hero, a symbol. The Reapers may be alien, but they have to respect that you beat one of them."

"So I'll just have to take your word for it?" Shepard said, sarcasm clearly audible.

"That's why you're going to Freedom's Progress, the latest colony to be abducted." he said.

Shepard wanted to go into the offensive, who was the Illusive man to be ordering her around? But she knew that she would make a fool of herself. After all, the Illusive man had a way of making you feel stupid if you weren't careful. She couldn't deny the purpose either, if the Reapers really were behind this...

"Very well, I'll see for myself if what you say is true. If it is, I'll consider helping you." she said, emphasizing 'consider'.

"I expected no less of you, Commander." the Illusive man said, pleased with himself. He knew what she would find, and he knew that she couldn't ignore it like the Alliance did. Shepard was going to work with him, whether she liked it or not. This didn't mean that he trusted her, of course. He doubted that she would ever trust him, either.

Shepard's image faded from view and he was alone again.

"Viewing window off." he said, the image of the star behind him disappearing as the shutters closed.

"Lights on." was his next command, and the room was illuminated with soft white light.

He never completely trusted a person, of course. He did once, long ago, before humanity had a place in the galaxy. But those days were long gone. This didn't mean he could not revel in old customs like the earth-produced cigarettes, not the synthetic alien tobacco that went into production after humanity conquered a place in the galactic community.

Even his glass of Bourbon was something that brought him back to the past each time he tasted the liquid. When he had been an ordinary man, ignorant of the beauty and the danger of the sky above him.

Before Shanxi.

Before the First Contact War.

Before the Reapers.

* * *

**A/N: Credits of the info about the Illusive man (and some future characters like Kahlee Sanders and David Anderson) go to Drew Karpyshyn (yes that's his real name) and the artists behind the ME comics and novels.**

**If you haven't read them, I recommend them strongly! A few mysteries are certainly cleared up, like how Saren got in contact with Sovereign and the complete story behind Anderson's nomination for the Spectre's.**


	5. Freedom's Deterioration

**A/N: So I'm back from my little holiday, having done quite some writing like I hoped. I still don't have a beta, so I apologise in advance. (if there's anyone interested please let me know) Anyway, here's the fifth chapter!**

* * *

**Freedom's Deterioration**

Shepard knew she shouldn't be angry with Miranda, but still she was. The woman had wanted to put a chip into her brain! To control her like a dog on a leash! And she just admitted it, looking all disappointed while telling Shepard that the Illusive man had kept her from doing it.

Now she owed the jackass another one, wonderful.

Miranda saw Shepard sulking in the seat across from her and did a mental roll of her eyes, while keeping her face perfectly even. She wasn't sure why she admitted to wanting to put a chip in Shepard's brain, it certainly hadn't been the best move, because now the Commander was angry at her.

She sighed, the Illusive man wouldn't like this. Miranda had promised him to try to give Shepard some space, their future was in the hands of this woman after all. But it was hard. She knew that Shepard had a surprising insight in people and how to act around them, but it seemed that trait only hit the surface when a lot was on the line.

She had watched the conversation between Shepard and the Illusive man with great interest -with knowledge of the Illusive man of course- and what she saw there had, as much as she hated to admit it, caused Miranda to admire Shepard. Even if it was just a little bit.

Now however, she wanted to be as far away from the Commander as possible, given that the woman practically had a thundercloud hanging above her head. Miranda sighed again, this mission was too important, even if it meant swallowing her pride now and then.

"Any orders for when we get there, Commander?" she asked.

Shepard looked up surprised and then narrowed her eyes, she didn't trust Miranda, certainly not after their last conversation. But, being a soldier above all, Shepard put her personal feelings aside, "Just keep your eyes open, anything can happen."

Miranda and Jacob nodded in understanding.

It wasn't long after that that they touched down on the snow-covered concrete of Freedom's Progress. The first thing that struck Shepard was the air of abandonment that hung over the colony, and the utter silence.

"Be careful." she said to both Jacob and Miranda while pulling her gun, getting surprised looks from the both of them. She ignored them however and cautiously walked over to a door adjacent to their landing pad. As it slid open it revealed a living-room, completely abandoned with half-eaten dinner still on the table.

"It's like everyone just got up during dinner and left." Jacob muttered softly.

Shepard rolled her eyes, that line was so cheesy it should be a crime. But it was true, everything looked like the people just left midway, switched on computers, half-eaten dinners, datapads scattered across the floor... Wherever they went it was the same.

They left the umpteenth empty house when Shepard heard something. She held up a balled fist to stop Miranda and Jacob, who immediately crouched behind her, scanning their surroundings.

"You hear that?" she whispered. Jacob shook his head but Miranda unconsciously cocked her head to listen closer.

"Mechs!" she yelled just before the first shot rang. Jacob used his biotics to pause the firing so they could run into cover. Soon a wave of mechs attacked them, even the strange 'dog' kind. Shepard never knew which idiot had thought the two creatures looked alike.

"I'm telling you, they're attracted to me!" Shepard yelled jokingly over the noise, causing Jacob to chuckle. Miranda just ignored the comment, but she couldn't deny the irony of the situation.

From then on every area they encountered was filled with security mechs, attacking them for unknown reason.

"They shouldn't be hostile, they should recognise us as human." Jacob said frustrated when another mech exploded too close for his liking when he put a bullet in its head.

"Someone reprogrammed them, probably during or after the attack." Shepard thought out loud, "Miranda, where's the main control-"

"Scanners pick up organic movement." Miranda interrupted, frantically typing on her omni-tool.

"Where?" Shepard asked, tensing.

"Building to our left."

Shepard gestured them to follow her and slowly approached the building, her gun ready for action. As the door slit open she barged in, pistol first, keeping low. Jacob and Miranda followed directly behind, ready for action like Shepard. They stopped short when they saw who their targets were; a group of quarians hastily grabbing their weapons and aiming at them.

"Prazza, you said you let me handle this!" one of them said, stepping forward and in front of Shepard's squad. Shepard would recognise this voice out of a thousand, and when the quarian turned around to face her she couldn't help the brilliant smile that came onto her face.

"Shepard?" Tali said, completely baffled and not trusting her eyes.

"Tali." Shepard said, her smile growing even wider.

Tali couldn't believe her eyes, she couldn't. Shepard was dead, and those people were Cerberus. The bastards, what had they done?

Shepard's smile wavered when Tali backed away. Once again she cursed the fact that she couldn't see the quarian's expression because of those damn masks.

"Tali, I-" she thought hard how to convince her and then knew what to say. "Remember when I gave you the geth data for your pilgrimage? I see you've been promoted." she said, cautiously smiling again.

Tali shook her head, this wasn't... possible. Shepard was alive!

"It's Tali'Zorah vas Neema now." she said with a weak smile, not knowing how to react to the living, breathing form of the human that she had regarded as one of her best friends but lost so suddenly.

Shepard hesitantly opened her arms slightly, but it was enough. Tali let loose a single sob and then buried herself in the N7-armour of the Commander. For Shepard it was strange, it felt like she hadn't left. But now she bitterly realised that the world -or the galaxy- had gone on while she had been gone.

She wasn't sure she could endure reunions like this with her entire crew, they made her feel so sad for their sake, so... lost.

Tali detached herself from the Commander, beyond confused and with a million questions in her head fighting to be asked, but she was on a mission and she had command over her own team. Taking a deep breath she pushed her feelings away and took a few steps back, glad for her environmental mask because she was blushing furiously at her lack of professionalism and her emotional slip.

"Your old Commander is with Cerberus?" Prazza asked, his tone accusing.

"I'm not with Cerberus, we're having an... understanding. They brought me back to find the reason of the disappearing colonies." Shepard defended herself, throwing a warning glance at Miranda when it was obvious that the woman wanted to say something.

At least some of Tali's questions were answered, "We're here because one of our own was on a pilgrimage. We saw him run away when we landed. We think he's the one behind the mechs."

"Why would he do that?" Shepard wondered out loud.

"He's always been a little... nervous." Tali said, self-consciously fidgeting with her hands.

"Combine that with a suit-rupture and he's likely delirious." Prazza added.

"He may know what happened here." Miranda cut in.

Shepard nodded thoughtfully and then turned to the quarians, "We could work together to find the quarian."

"His _name_ is Veetor. And we're not working with Cerberus!" Prazza spit at her.

"Prazza," Tali warned, finally regaining her earlier posture of authority, "you're working for me, and we're going to work together, understood?"

Prazza reluctantly nodded and the other quarians followed his example. Shepard was amused and pleased to see how Tali handled them, she had grown in the time Shepard was gone. She wondered however...

"What has Cerberus done that makes you hate them so much?"

"Apart from infiltrating our fleet, killing our brothers and nearly blowing up one of our ships?" Prazza sneered.

"Not without good reason." Miranda said, eyeing the quarian annoyed.

"It's not like your people told us that reason." Prazza said, growing furious.

"Prazza, enough! Now is not the time to point fingers, we need to find Veetor." Tali interrupted. She nodded towards Shepard and then lead the team out of the building. Shepard went the other way around together with Miranda and Jacob.

Soon, however, Tali informed them bitterly that Prazza and his team had run on ahead and were now being torn apart by a heavy-mech.

"Bloody quarians." Miranda muttered under her breath, earning a sharp look from Shepard. No matter what they had done, speaking ill of the dead was something Shepard despised, and Miranda wasn't helping.

They arrived on the scene just in time to see the entire squad being shot down, leaving the snow-covered ground smeared with red. They hadn't time to see more, because now that the mech had no more quarians to distract him, he pointed his fire at Shepard and her squad.

"This son of a bitch is going to be trouble!" Miranda warned.

Shepard smirked, she would show Miranda what she thought of trouble. She pulled the grenade launcher from her back, the one she had found on the Cerberus station, and ran out of cover.

"Shepard!" she heard Miranda call furiously behind her.

Shepard ignored her and ran straight for the mech, spiking up her biotics for the first time since the space station. As she came within two metres of the heavy mech, it turned and aimed its rocket launcher at her. She didn't give it much time to shoot, however, and warped away his armour. Then she pointed her grenade launcher, aimed, and shot a grenade shortly followed by another at the thing's head. It exploded with a very satisfying bang, and then crumpled to the ground.

"Shepard, are you mad?" Miranda came out from behind a crate, fuming.

"Depends on who you ask, really." she smirked, turning around to see the pale woman march towards her with just a slight tinge of red on her cheeks.

"We didn't bring you back so you could perform actions like this! Your selfishness could kill you, and then where would we be?" Miranda lectured.

Shepard cocked an eyebrow, "Did I misunderstand or was it me who was the Commander and you the bitch-who-tags-along?"

"Of all the-!" Miranda sputtered.

"Shepard!" Tali called from one of the cabins adjacent to the square where the fight had just taken place. Shepard thanked the quarian gods, or ancestors or whatever, for the timely interruption. Miranda looked able to eat her alive, in the bad sense of the word.

"Coming!" she replied a little too eagerly and jogged towards the female quarian.

"I think Veetor is somewhere in the back, go while I tend to the wounded."

"Yes, thank you. And... I'm sorry about the others." Shepard said a little awkwardly.

"No need, Prazza was an idiot, he and his team asked for it." Tali replied coldly.

Shepard was a little taken aback, this wasn't the Tali she knew. But from what she had heard and seen, the galaxy hadn't been sitting on its lazy ass while she had been dead. She was tempted to ask Tali how she was, what had happened. But she also knew this wasn't the time.

She turned on her heel and exited the cabin, walking towards the one furthest in the back. She didn't look behind to see if Miranda or Jacob followed, actually, she couldn't care less.

As the door slid away at her touch she paused at what she saw inside the building. Nine big screens covered the back wall, displaying together the same thing over and over again. _Things _walking around the colony, dragging strange pod-like things behind them, and loading them with... with _humans._

"Have to hide, the seeker swarms, they will find me. Have to hide-" a mechanical voice came from the chair in front of the screens.

"Veetor?" Shepard asked cautiously, slowly walking towards the chair.

"No. No. It's not safe, the seeker-"

"VEETOR!" Shepard called loudly near his ear.

The quarian jumped from his chair and held his arms in front of his face. "No! Don't kill me!"

"Veetor, it's all right." Shepard soothed.

"Humans? They didn't find you?" he said surprised.

Shepard glanced back to see Miranda and Jacob had joined her, the first still glaring at her. She turned back to Veetor, "we came after the attack. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Yes. Veetor saw it all, see?" he said, his head twitching nervously to the side as he gestured towards the replaying images.

"My god, is that a collector?" Miranda breathed as she stepped closer.

"A collector? I thought they collected rare species or something." Shepard muttered.

"It seems they branched out." Jacob half-joked, engrossed in the disturbing images.

"I made scans, lots of scans." Veetor said, more to himself than to the others.

Miranda, of course, was delighted to hear this. Finally they had the evidence they needed. She was also hoping that the Illusive man could convince Shepard to join their cause, or even get the Alliance into action. Though she had given up hope on the latter long ago.

"I don't see how the Reapers fit into this." Shepard shrugged, as Miranda expected.

"The Illusive man suspected something like this." Miranda said, hoping to convince Shepard to hear them out before walking away, as she expected to happen every second.

Shepard rolled her eyes, "no doubt."

Miranda opened her mouth to say something but then Tali interrupted her, saving Shepard's arse _again_. Miranda was certainly considering an unspoken conspiracy against her.

"Veetor has told you all he know, now let me take him home."

"We should really take him with us, see that he has no more information." Miranda protested.

"Take him home, Tali." Shepard said, completely ignoring Miranda.

Miranda bit back a snide remark and nodded reluctantly, "as you wish, Commander."

"I'm glad you're still the one in charge, Shepard." Tali said. Shepard could hear more than see the relief coming from Tali.

She took the quarian by the arm and led her outside, away from the others. Jacob stopped Miranda from following and shook his head at her when she gave him a questioning look. He could see she didn't like it, but she stood her ground nevertheless.

"Tali, please tell me you can come with me, I think I'm going crazy and I've been conscious for less than two days." Shepard pleaded, finally allowing some of the weariness that she felt to show.

Tali regarded the tired form of the Commander concerned. She was at conflict, she really wanted to join Shepard again, she was, after all, the best captain she had ever known. Despite past... she had a mission, she had a people to care for, and she couldn't put herself above those she had sworn fealty to.

"I can't Shepard, I'm sorry." she shook her head, genuine regret in her voice. It broke her heart to see Shepard's shoulders slump and the hopeful smile waver.

"I'm on a very important mission, Shepard. But I swear if I come back, I will look for you."

"_If_ you come back?" Shepard said, tensing.

"I can't tell you about the mission, Shepard. Cerberus..." she sighed, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Shepard said with a smile on her face, "it's not your fault."

Tali nodded gratefully, of all people she had rightfully expected Shepard to understand.

"So here our ways part again?" Shepard said, regaining her usual mischievous grin.

"So it seems." Tali smiled, but it was invisible to Shepard. Once again she cursed her environmental suit.

"Fare well, then. Tali'Zorah vas Neema." Shepard said solemnly, bowing with grave hand-gestures.

"Drama-queen..." Tali muttered under her breath, but she did so with a smile.

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**A/N: I have no idea what you guys think of this, so if there's anything you'd like to say or something that you thought stood out or I don't know what else, I give you permission to review the crap out of me ;)**

**Next up**: **Back on the Normandy**


	6. Back on the Normandy

**A/N: So this chapter is as shamefully unbeta'd as the others, but my new and recently aquired beta is reading through the story now, so I'm expecting to improve this chapter and the previous chapters sometime in the future.  
Also, blame quirky21 for this, she forced me to upload this chapter... She blackmailed me, honest!**

**Anyhow, have fun reading!**

* * *

**Back on the Normandy**

"Have you _considered _joining us, Shepard?" the Illusive man said, tugging at his never-ending cigarette.

"I have, and I will." she said, ignoring the hidden insultin the man's words.

"Good." he simply said, pushing the cigarette-stump into the ashtray and then bringing the tips of his fingers together.

"But I'll need an army, or a very good team." she folded her arms together.

"I've already compiled a list of people fitting for the job." he said with a stiff smile.

"No." she shook her head, "I had a team, a good team."

"They've moved on, Shepard." the Illusive man lighted another cigarette with automatic movements, having practised the art for many, many decades.

"Kaidan Alenko?"

"Promoted, I believe. Even I can't get access to his files."

Shepard scoffed, she hardly believed that. "Liara T'Soni?"

"Sources say she's working for the shadow broker, if so, she can't be trusted."

Liara and the shadow broker, yeah right. As likely as Miranda liking Shepard. "Garrus Vakarian?" she tried.

"Disappeared a few months after you died. We have no idea where he is."

"Urdnot Wrex?"

"He's on tuchanka, I believe. Trying to reunite the krogan clans."

Shepards eyebrows raised, Wrex uniting the krogan clans? Last time she checked he couldn't care less. "Tali'Zorah? She was at Freedom's Progress." she said, hiding the fact that she already knew Tali couldn't come, not yet anyway.

"That was unexpected, I need to investigate more before I can say something about that." the Illusive man said, lazily waving away the smoke that had gathered between him and Shepard.

"Fine, I get it. They're not available." she sighed as in defeat, but in reality she wasn't going to give up on them. Hell no.

"Good. One thing before you go." he said, standing up and walking towards Shepard's hologram.

"Yes?" came Shepard's impatient reply.

"I've contacted a pilot for you, I hear he's one of the best." he said with an amused smile. He saw that Shepard immediately knew who he was talking about. As the hologram closed he walked back to his chair and saw down with an almost invisible air of smugness.  
Shepard was eating out of his hand.

She turned when the Illusive man's form, surrounded by a halo of red coming from the dying star behind him, wavered and then disappeared. She was greeted by grey, bare walls, and the sound of irregular footsteps behind her.

"Good to see you, Commander." Joker said, daring to release a small smile towards the once dead Commander. Part of him still blamed himself for what happened, because he was too stubborn to leave the Normandy, even when the Commander told him to. The happy look that the Commander gave him, completely without accusation or even anger in it, caused relief to flood through him. They were good.

"Joker." she opened her arms and hugged him tightly, temporarily forgetting about his brittle-bone disease.

"Easy Commander," came his choked reply, "my ribs are content with being where they are now."

"I bet they are." she said grinning, setting him down gently.

Joker couldn't help but grin back, the Commander was almost like a child sometimes, so easy to please and seeing the best in things. Other times, however, she was... darker. He couldn't help but think there was a lot of cropped up anger underneath the cold professionalism.

He couldn't help but think she had changed however. The 'old' Commander wouldn't have greeted him so warmly. She'd probably have scolded him first, then broke his arm (again), and _then_ hugged him.

"What are you doing with Cerberus? Or did you forget your rants about how they brought out the worst of humanity?" Shepard asked amused.

He rubbed the back of his neck uneasily, "well, the Alliance shut us down after you... err..."

"Died?"

"Yeah. Cerberus let me fly." he said, and then went to stand before a window, looking out over a huge docking bay, "and there's this."  
Shepard's smile grew so wide it felt like her face could split in two. Before her was the Normandy, whole and new. Bigger than before.

"All we have to do is give her a name." Joker shrugged, watching the Commander's smile turn into a mischievous smirk.

"Oh no, not that. Please not that." he said, fearing the worst.

"What are you talking about, Jeff? It's going to be 'Normandy' of course." she said with a sweet voice.

He knew this tone, and it didn't make him feel better.

She looked around the CIC and decided that Cerberus, despite everything, was good at two things. Building ships and annoying the crap out of her.

"Welcome to the new Normandy, Commander." sounded a synthetic voice behind her. She whirled around and her surprised stare was met with a blue hologram, somewhat resembling the top-half of a pion.

"What is this?" she said, half-suspicious half-curious.

"That's EDI, the ship's AI." Miranda introduced it to Shepard.

Shepard wasn't sure she was supposed to laugh, shout or run away screaming. Joker wouldn't like this, that was for sure. She was also sure that she didn't like it. But she was regretting the fact that she hadn't seen Joker's face when he found out that an AI was going to be his new co-pilot.

Miranda watched Shepard's reaction curiously, for a moment it looked like the Commander was about to laugh, but that quickly changed into a frown. She blamed it on the fact that in the past Shepard had had a lot of collisionswith AI's; the geth. But she wasn't entirely sure that it was just that.

"Interesting." the Commander finally said, and then walked past the holographic image called EDI towards an object that interested her immensely, the elevator.

"Shepard." Miranda said patiently.

"Yes?" she stopped in her tracks and replied with equal patience.

"I recommend starting with acquiring Dr. Mordin Solus, should we run into any Collectors. He could-"

"No." Shepard said, smirking when she saw the indignant expression on Miranda's face.

"No?" she replied coldly.

"I'm going to see Capt- Councilor Anderson, and you're not stopping me." Shepard informed her, turning her back to Miranda.

"Commander." Miranda said, acknowledging the 'order'. Glaring at the woman's smug figure walking towards the elevator and being stopped by Chambers. She sighed and shook her head, she seriously doubted that they were going to achieve anything under Shepard's command. Despite the woman's earlier career, which Miranda knew by heart after studying all the files. What the files didn't mention however was the immaturity, violence, unpredictability utter lack of selflessness or even _sense_ of this woman.

Miranda was good at reading people but this one left her clueless.

Shepard snickered when she left the woman that introduced herself as Kelly Chambers behind, she could still feel Miranda's icy glare on her back. 'I bet you like the view,' she thought despite herself.

Anyway, she hadn't been lying. She needed to see Anderson. He would tell her what she needed to know, and he was the only one who could stop her from going insane at the moment.

As the elevator reached 'the loft' as EDI informed her it was called, she was pulled out of her thoughts. She laughed and whistled when she saw the luxe quarters she could call hers now. She had her own aquarium! Not that she ever wanted one, but she had it now, didn't she? And her own _bathroom_, blessed be Cerberus, she was starting to like them.

"Cerberus, I sincerely apologise for calling you terrorists, you are forgiven, hallelujah." she said when she saw the queen-size bed.  
She let herself fall onto the soft haven, she hadn't been on a decent bed since... forever. On earth it was mostly sleeping on the floor or bare mattresses, during the N7-training she had slept on a cot and on the old Normandy she had a bed, if the stiff, tiny thing could be called that.

She got up sighing heavily, she should check her mail first, as Kelly so subtly insisted. She was delighted to find a message from Anderson, though she wondered how the hell he knew where to send it to. Another message related to the Citadel talked about a master thief called Kasumi Goto, and a password? Silence is golden, huh, what kind of person needs passwords like that?

She pushed away from the desk and stretched, finally able to strip herself of her armour. Don't get her wrong, she loved the thing, and it was almost like home to her. But after wearing it for more than 48 hours one tends to get a little uncomfortable.

She pulled open the closet that was built into the wall next to her bed and scanned its contents. Most of it was standard military stuff, uniforms, sporting clothes, etc. In the end she pulled out a pair of sweats and a tank-top, the feel of soft fabric very welcome to her rough fingers.

But she took a shower first, not wanting to know when the last time had been when she had showered. Probably two years ago, ugh. She dreaded to glance into the mirror, she didn't know what Miranda had changed about her.

Tali had recognised her though, it could be that-

"Holy hell."

She stared at herself in the mirror. Yeah, most of it was familiar.

Most.

The scars weren't. And was she seeing that right? Did they... glow? She scanned over the tanned skin and the ragged raven-black hair, she was in desperate need of a haircut, she never grew it this long.

She paused at her eyes. They were the same grey eyes, almost colourless. But now there was something behind it, a very faint reddish glow, the same tint as her scars. She grimaced, she needed to ask Miranda what the hell they put inside her to make her glow like this, she wasn't going to walk around like a Christmas tree from hell.

Interesting mental image.

She scanned the rest of her body, but it was fairly the same. Even the scars from Akuze were still there. Miranda had done a hell of a job.  
Which made her realise that Miranda had seen her naked for two years, so did Wilson. An involuntary shiver ran down her spine when she thought of that creep seeing her naked. Miranda, however, she didn't mind. Not because she wanted Miranda to see her naked, which was just, really, inappropriate. The woman was a professional, she wouldn't let... mental images, get in the way of her work, right?

Not like Shepard, Shepard was weak like that. But just the thought of seeing Miranda-

Oookay, she was going to run laps to get her mind off... things.

She shot into the clothes she had slung over a chair before and went towards the elevator, travelling down to the Cargo bay.

The original Normandy had been too small for running laps, but Shepard saw her suspicions were right, this cargo-hold was at least four times bigger. Perfect. She was glad for the exercise. It cleared her mind, grounded her.

"We've set course to the Citadel, Shepard."

Miranda's voice pulled her out of her concentration and she skidded to a stop, "what?"

Miranda cocked her eyebrow but repeated her words, "The Citadel, we're going there."

"Glad you saw reason." Shepard teased.

"I didn't" was Miranda's cold reply.

Shepard sighed, she really had a stick up her ass didn't she? "Look, you don't have to like me, but we're going to have to work together." she began.

"You're right, Shepard. I don't like you. But I will follow you as long as you do your job."

"I'm planning to." Shepard replied sharply.

"Good, then we have an understanding." Miranda turned around.

"Do we?" Shepard challenged.

She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw, begging for patience. "You do your job, I do mine." she forced out.

"And what exactly is your job, running to the Illusive man each time I do something anti-Cerberus like? If that's the case you're going to need better shoes." Shepard gestured at the knee-high black boots encasing Miranda's legs.

"My shoes are fine, Shepard. As for my work, I report our progress to the Illusive man, yes. I am also second in command. I know how to use a pistol, Shepard."

"I never said you didn't... But I bet mine's bigger." she smirked.

Miranda scoffed and threw her hands up in frustration, there was no talking sense with Commander Shepard, they were only going in circles, always ending up with Shepard getting on Miranda's nerve.

"I'm in my office if you need me." she said, giving up.

Shepard grinned with the victory, but she knew Miranda wouldn't give up. Neither would she.

"EDI, would you like to warn me whenever Miranda is coming? I'd like to be prepared." she said to the air, knowing the AI would hear her. It was probably spying on her 24/7 from now on, better get used to it.

She saw Miranda halt her movements. She knew Miranda had heard her.

"Of course, Shepard." came the reply, and Miranda continued walking away.

Somehow EDI's voice was familiar, but Shepard couldn't put her finger on it.

* * *

**A/N: the joke at the end: I was referring to the voice actress of EDI, Tricia Helfer, since she's quite renowned. Next up: a few answers to your questions regarding chapter one. I know you want to know ;)**


	7. Some distant family

**A/N: Finally! Some answers! I'm not entirely sure where I want to go with this, since I have only loose scenes in my head and I don't have an ending that I'm working towards, so it could be that I'll change some things in the near future. But for now, not to worry! Leave that up to the writer ^^  
A/N 2: Huge thanks to those who reviewed and of course those who subscribed and favorited this story! I love you all! (the silent readers aren't forgotten either, thank you!)**

* * *

**Some Distant Family**

After a very enlightening chat with Anderson, who had been distant and even distrusting, Shepard waited patiently until the scanners were done. She hadn't expected Anderson's attitude, but she should have. She was with Cerberus now, at least in the eyes of every Alliance soldier out there.

She didn't blame him, he hated them as much as he did, probably more. But she tried to cooperate, she tried to get over her past. But her past had a funny habit of catching up with her.

She scoffed, at least the council reinstated her Spectre status. It was a small comfort.

She now knew why the Alliance ignored the attacks on the colonies, blaming slavers. Just because it was close to the Terminus systems-! Well, Shepard couldn't judge, she had thought the same at first.

The council wasn't better, maybe even worse. They had ignored Sovereign, dubbed it as a flagship of the geth. Geth! As if they had the innovative skills to make up something like that. She learned from Tali that the geth could improve existing things, creating entirely new ideas however, wasn't possible. The council knew that, the Alliance knew that. But they were rather blind than threatened.

For once, Shepard was grateful for Cerberus. At least they were doing something good now. Something nobody else would. A necessary evil.  
She stepped forward to leave C-Sec but before she could go through the door the turian stopped her with his voice.

"Hold on, there seems to be a complication.."

He then flicked his gaze to Shepard and his eyes widened, "It says here you're ah... dead?"

Shepard smirked, "Try to find 'mostly dead' as an option on government papers."

Miranda snorted and folded her arms, Shepard was in one of _those _moods again. Maybe this was Shepard's way of coping with things, joke about them, dismiss them. The idea shed an entirely new light on the Commander, but it didn't change the fact that Miranda disapproved.

Shepard refrained from glancing behind her. Miranda had _insisted _on coming with her, and well, who said no to Miranda Lawson? Especially when she directs her icy glare at you, eesh.

"Well, you need to go to Captain Bailey about that, he's past this door on the right, behind the desk." the turian said, still looking at her puzzled.

"Thanks." Shepard nodded and went through the door.

"-you just gotta make her scream a little."

Shepard turned her head to see who was talking and saw and older man with a square face sitting behind a desk, addressing an unhappy looking C-sec officer.

Shepard raised her eyebrows and then frowned, she could feel Miranda tense behind her, preparing for the worst. Which was never far off, knowing Shepard.

"Make her scream a little?" she said cautiously to the man behind the desk, who she assumed was captain Bailey.

He looked her up and down and decided she was wearing enough battle-gear to take out a battalion single-handedly, and formed his words delicately.  
"These people are criminals, ma'am. If we do not get the truth out of them innocent people will die."

"Yeah I know the 'innocent people will die' line, but isn't this a little harsh?" Shepard narrowed her eyes, she wasn't sure she liked this man.

"We're not talking Alliance here, this is C-Sec. We need to keep the Citadel safe, and we can't do that if we go easy on people. You of all people must know, Commander." he said, emphasizing the last word.

"That doesn't mean I like it." she said, her face adorned by a scowl.

"You don't have to." Bailey said, not backing away.

She scoffed, "fine, have it your way."

"Now I see that there's a little problem with your...'death'. Normally you would have to spend days changing your status, it's a popular form of tax evasion."

Shepard frowned annoyed at this news.

"But I'm certain you have better things to do, Commander. How 'bout I touch this button right here and you're in the clear?" he offered, his mouth forming a small smile but his eyes daring.

"That would be much appreciated." Shepard said, refusing to take the bait.

Before Bailey could say anything they were interrupted by a young boy running into the office.

"Where's my sister?" he yelled.

"Excuse me, I need to take care of this, _again_." Bailey sighed. He raised from his chair and walked over to the boy.

Shepard turned to look at the boy and then her eyes widened, "Keith?

He looked at her surprised and then flew into her arms, "Kay! You're alive!"

Shepard staggered a few steps back because of the sheer force of Keith slamming into her. He didn't care she was wearing armour and hugged her fiercely.

"Who is this boy?" Miranda asked suspiciously.

"My nephew." Shepard replied, daring Miranda to make another remark. Miranda cocked one eyebrow but remained silent. Keith and Rose didn't share Shepard's last name, but they were the children of her half-sister. Well, no need to get into complicated family details, the two were family, period. More like brother and sister actually, Keith twenty-two and Rose just eighteen. After their mother, Shepard's half-sister, died they stayed on the Citadel, Keith had already found a job and well... Earth wasn't a good place for them. Shepard felt a little guilty that she hadn't thought of contacting them, but she had been very busy.

"How have you been?" she directed at Keith.

"They took Rose!" he said, releasing her.

"What! Why?" she said surprised, frowning at the news.

"They say she killed people..." he said looking down at his feet.

"Rose would never do that." she assured him and then turned to Bailey with dangerously narrowed eyes.

"I want to see her." she demanded.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, ma'am." he shook his head.

"Shepard, we're have a mission, we can't-" Miranda began.

"Shut up Miranda!" she spit at the woman and immediately regretted it. Not because she felt guilty, but because the look little miss perfect gave her was _lethal_.

"Captain Bailey, we're both civilised people. I don't see a problem in me seeing one little girl."

His eyes turned cold again, "I can't do that, Commander. She's danger-"

"My sister isn't a murderer! You're making a mistake!" Keith yelled at the captain, his face an unhealthy tinge of red.

"Listen boy," Bailey hissed at him, "we have over twenty eyewitnesses and several security feeds showing the same damn thing, you yelling at me isn't going to help your sister."

"I don't care, I want to see her." Keith looked Bailey dead in the eye.

"I want to see the vids." Shepard demanded, ignoring Miranda's increasing protests.

He sighed and looked at another C-sec officer, "Please get the-"

BANG!

The door to the interrogation rooms fell in mangled heaps of metal on the ground with a blast of blue and a small girl with dishevelled blonde hair ran outside. She froze when she saw all the faces looking at her, her eyes wide and pupils dilated like a scared animal. For several seconds no-one moved.

"Rose?" Keith broke the silence, all colour drained from his face.

"Shit!" she cursed. Bailey went for the gun on his hip but before he could he was thrown against the wall in a wave of blue energy. Then Rose _flew_, Shepard didn't know what other word to describe it, over them and landed on hands and knees on the floor behind them. Only to scrabble to her feet and run off in another blaze of blue.

'_How the hell- She doesn't have implants!'_ was Shepard's first thought, then she willed her body into action.

"Rose, wait!" she yelled after the girl, but she was too late.

Shepard glanced at Miranda yelling, "stay with Keith!" before chasing after Rose, flaring up her own dark energy. She didn't have to look back to know Miranda followed her order and kept a protesting Keith at bay, but what she didn't know that someone was running above her on the maintenance platforms, an amused smile playing across her lips.

"Let's see what you got, Shep." the cloaked woman said, keeping up with the woman with ease. She did wonder who the 'Rose' girl was though, she had never seen her before, nor had she seen a young biotic with such power. Either way, her curiosity was flared.

Rose flew up the stairs to the wards, leaving a trail of blue light behind. Shepard weaved through the shocked crowd with blue power trailing behind, cursing when she collided with people. Shepard used her own biotics to increase her speed, leaving a crowd of indignant humans and aliens behind.

When Rose arrived at Zakera ward she took another sprint but saw too late that the floor stopped after a few stores, dropping down to the lake in the middle of the presidium.

"Ah crap!" she cursed as she flung herself into empty air, barely avoiding the cab flying past her. Then she began to drop down with gut-wrenching speed. She used all her power to stop herself from falling, and managed with a lot of effort to land not-so-subtly on a platform several tens of meters beneath the ward.

She grimaced when she felt the shot of pain in her legs, but the landing was soft compared to what it would have been without her biotic powers. She looked up to see another flash of blue and cursed again, they were still pursuing her.

She ignored the baffled looks all the people and aliens gave her when she broke into a sprint again, this time aiming carefully when she flung herself from the edge.

With a little steering and lots of luck she landed on top of a cab, throwing a grin back at her pursuer. It vanished when she saw the armoured woman jump of the edge and landing on a cab just behind her.

"Doesn't she give up?" Rose muttered, her eyes widening when the cab beneath her suddenly dropped down. She looked through the window and saw a cloaked woman grinning and giving her a thumbs up.

"What the-" she exclaimed but then the cab made a sharp turn left.

Shepard frowned when the cab with Rose dropped down and left the torrent of vehicles. She took a running jump off the car she was on, arms and legs flailing, but she landed on another car. She was now surrounded by a chorus of honks, annoyed and scared drivers making obscene gestures at her.

"This is one hell of an 'I'm back!' situation." Shepard muttered grinning. She had wanted to do this since she arrived here for the first time with Kaidan and Ashley. She never thought she actually got to do it, huh, Ash would've liked to see this.

Miranda's scowl deepened at the scene unfolding behind her windscreen, Shepard was going to have to have a really good explanation for this, she was already seriously considering planting that chip there no matter what the Illusive man said. Keith, Shepard's nephew, watched the scene with his jaw practically on the floor, "awesome!"

Miranda sighed and rolled her eyes, yes, they were definitely family.

Shepard leapt from car to car, careful not to lose her balance, and finally landed with a 'thump' behind Rose. She had to grab the side not to slide of when the cab wavered, not used to the sudden extra weight. Rose turned her head, scared eyes widening when she saw who was behind her, "Kay?"

"Hi!" Shepard said cheerfully.

Confusion flashed on Rose's face, but before she could open her mouth to say something the car 'landed'. As in: all the air was knocked out of both woman's lungs when the cab collided with the ground and slid another few meters forward. Luckily it was in the middle of an area still under renovation after Sovereign's attack, so there were no people caught in the crash.

Shepard slid off the vehicle with a huff and gasped for breath.

The cab's door slid open to reveal a cloaked woman, "hey there Shep, need a hand?"

Shepard gave her a puzzled look before accepting the outstretched hand that pulled her back on her feet again.

"Who are-"

WHAM!

Shepard swore she saw stars when her head flung against the side of the cab. She groaned and shook her head to clear her sight. She saw a small figure running away with blue light pulsing from it.

"Fuck, Rose!" she yelled after the figure.

"What was that for? How much power does she have?" she exclaimed while starting the chase anew, stumbling the first steps.

"Enough to beat the famous Commander Shepard." a voice mocked next to her.

The cloaked woman was running beside her, the corners of her mouth turned upwards in a challenging smile.

"Oh no she doesn't" Shepard said through gritted teeth while boosting her biotics again. She was very attached to her pride, and now that it was in danger there was _no way_ she was going to let Rose escape. That and the fact there was something going on here that she _really_ needed to know about.

With a roar she flew up the stairs of a construction site, ran through the empty building while slowly gaining ground with Rose, and then flew out of a window with a biotic charge and landed right in front of her.

Rose skidded to a stop with a surprised squeal but nevertheless collided with Shepard.

Shepard threw her arms around her when they both fell on the ground and then quickly rolled over and pushed Rose down on the ground.

"Gotcha!" she said triumphantly.

"Let me go!" she protested, fighting against the iron grip on her body.

Shepard directed a surge of biotics towards the girl to keep pushing her down so she could grab her wrists. She sat down on the girl's back with a grin, she caught her prey.

"Ahh..." the girl said breathlessly, "that hurts!"

"No shit, Sherlock. I'm wearing armour." Shepard said still panting.

"What the- you caught up with me while wearing armour?" the girl said unbelieving, turning her head to sneak a look.

"Uhuh." Shepard said smugly, tightening her grip on the girl's wrists.

"Shepard!" sounded behind her. She turned her head to see the cloaked woman walking over to her grinning and waving.

"You said something about beating me?" she called, causing the woman's smile to widen.

"I take it back, Shep. You're still the best at chasing little girls."

"Hey!" sounded an indignant protests from underneath Shepard.

Shepard snickered, but sobered immediately realising who exactly she had caught, "Rose what the fuck is going on?"

"I'm not telling you shit, I saw you back there with that woman, you're one of _them_. And you can't be real, Kay's dead!" Rose managed to say through her struggles.

"Rose!" a panicked voice yelled.

Shepard looked to the side to see Keith running out of a cab, Miranda following behind.

"No Keith, stay back!" Rose yelled.

"But-" he protested.

"Keith, get the fuck out of here. Do you want to be arrested too?" she yelled angrily.

"No. But it's not your fault, they have to-"

"Shut up and leave, now!" Rose yelled. She tried to sound angry, but fear latched into her voice. Shepard frowned when she noticed this, there was something very wrong here.

"Here, this might come in handy." sounded softly near her. The cloaked woman threw a pair of handcuffs towards her. Shepard quickly caught them with one hand and studied them, these were special ones, specifically made for biotics to interfere with their powers.

She quickly cuffed Rose and hauled her upright.

Rose winced when the pressure suddenly left her body and her muscles protested when they stretched again. She coughed when her lungs could finally expand fully after being nearly crushed under Shepard's weight.

"Now you're gonne tell me exactly what happened to you." Shepard said.

Rose scoffed, "like hell I am. I thought you were one of the good guys, Kay. Hell, I thought you were dead! But you don't look that dead."

"No, I came back, but what the hell do you mean?" Shepard said, losing her patience. Rose had always been stubborn, but this wasn't making sense.

"You and _her!_ She's one of _them!_" Rose spat turning towards Miranda.

Keith, was still standing a few meters away, not sure what to do. Shepard's attention was however directed at the fuming woman behind him. She knew that look way too good already, there was some unpleasant business waiting for her on the Normandy. She sighed inwardly, it was only getting worse.

"Her name is Miranda, and who are _they?_" Shepard asked, but she knew the answer already.

"I don't know their fucking name, but I'd recognise that sign anywhere."

"Language, Rose." Shepard warned.

Rose snorted unbelieving, "Really, Kay? All you can thinkabout in this fucked up situation is my cussing? Get a grip."

"Okay, Rose, this has to stop, now." Shepard hissed at the girl, feeling that she was very close to losing her patience.

They were interrupted by five C-sec vehicles landing next to the cab Keith and Miranda arrived in. Captain Bailey and a dozen C-sec agents exited and walked over to them. Shepard stepped forward, partly shielding Rose behind her.

"Ma'am?" Bailey frowned when he saw Shepard step in front of the girl.

"That's Commander Shepard to you, Captain." she said calmly.

"Commander." he saluted reluctantly, sighing inwardly. He had to be careful with his words, this woman was as likely to hit you as hug you, he had seen enough vids about her to know. Judging by the look on her face she was very likely to hit him if he said something wrong.

"At ease." she said, folding her arms.

"Thank you for catching her." he said reluctantly, gesturing at the girl.

"What has she done?" Shepard asked bluntly, ignoring Rose's protests.

"She murdered three humans without-"

"No, they-!" Rose began but a hand on her shoulder stopped her. She looked up to see Kay shaking her head, her eyes conveying a warning. She bowed her head and shut up, trying hard not to run away again.

"Without reason." Bailey finished bitterly.

"No! I was scared, I thought they were after me, I didn't-" Shepard didn't have to tell her to shut up because she broke off mid-sentence.

"Rose." Shepard said, kneeling next to the girl so that their faces were at the same level. She tried hard to fight the frustration inside her, she couldn't risk snapping in front of Rose. She sighed when she saw Rose was visibly fighting hard to hold back the tears threatening to break free, and she suddenly felt very worried.

"It's okay, tell me what happened." Shepard said softly.

Miranda, who had been following the conversation impatiently, was taken aback when she saw the sudden change in the Commander. She had never seen Shepard change like this, from threatening and dangerous to soft and comforting. That's when Miranda sensed there was something off, Shepard was annoying and childish at times, but she wasn't stupid. Miranda tensed and paid close attention to both the girl and Commander Bailey, ignoring the curious looks the cloaked mystery-woman directed at her.

"They- I was taken by people, I didn't know them. They talked about... testing me." Rose said with a shaking voice, "I escaped and hid. Yesterday I went outside because I was hungry but I was so scared they would find me again, I-"

"Take slow, deep breaths Rose. You're doing okay." Shepard said softly.

She nodded and wiped the tears that had managed to escape despite her fight against her emotions with her shoulders, since her hands were still cuffed behind her back, "I freaked when a woman touched my shoulder, she was only asking if I was okay but- That blue light came out and it... it exploded." She hung her head, "I ran away."

"This was all recorded?" Shepard turned to Bailey. He nodded scowling, he didn't like this one bit.

"Let me see the vids, until then Rose is not leaving my sight." she ordered.

"Yes, ma'am." he saluted and turned around.

"Uhm, Kay?" Keith said, fidgeting uneasy when all the attention switched to him, "can I come with you?"

Shepard gave a questioning look at Rose, who nodded once, still looking at her feet.

"You can come with us." she said.

Miranda sighed, sometimes she wondered how this woman managed to save the galaxy with every little thing distracting her.

* * *

**So, finally some ties to chapter one, but was it like you imagined? What part will Keith and Rose play, and what exactly happened to Her? More answers will come next chapter!**

**From now on I'll be going into AU territory, and probably end up completely on the other side of the universe, knowing me ;)**


	8. Rose

**A/N: **So, here's to another chapter!First, sorry for the long wait, but I wasn't as enthusiastic about the story anymore as before and was kind of out of writing juice... I'm working on my original stories now and I'm not really satisfied with how I've written this story, since I've grown in my writing a lot lately. :) Anyhow, I won't be giving up on this story but I can't promise frequent posts either. I AM planning of finishing it someday, don't worry.  
I'm also planning on re-editing the story, not only because I cringe every time I read one of the chapters, but because I've some new ideas too. ;)

Second, massive thanks to those who reviewed, followed and favorited this story! It's always amazing to find out someone likes my work, I get a big ass grin each time I get a mail.

I hope you enjoy this new chapter! (questions will be answered)

* * *

** Rose**

"I don't understand, they were right here!" The frustrated C-sec officer said, furiously digging through the database.

"Then see to it that you find them." Bailey said annoyed.

"It seems C-sec isn't as watertight as you like to believe, Captain." Shepard crossed her arms, her face remaining impassive except for the slight twitching of her lips.

"There are still eyewitnesses, Commander." He replied, his stance rigid and unwavering.

Shepard wasn't impressed however, "and what did they see? A scared blonde girl running away after an explosion of blue?"

Bailey remained silent, fully aware that the Commander had a point. Now that the tapes were gone, there was no irrefutable evidence that it was this girl that had done it, even though he had heard her say it. He cursed the fact that he didn't record it with his omni-tool.

"So if you don't mind I'm taking this girl with me." Shepard said, putting a hand on Rose's tiny shoulder. The top of the girl's barely reached Shepard's shoulders, she had always been small. If anyone said so out loud, however, she had never refrained from giving them a piece of her mind.

"She _will_ be arrested when we find new evidence." The captain said, the threatening tone barely hidden.

"I know the protocol, Bailey." She replied coldly. "No need to remind me."

"Very well, enjoy your stay at the Citadel." Bailey said stiffly, his mouth tight and his fists clenched behind his back. He did not move an inch when Shepard smirked at him. He could hold his own, she could give him that.

Shepard then motioned Miranda, the cloaked woman and Keith to follow with a jerk of her head when she led Rose away from C-Sec and towards the docking bay containing the Normandy. Rose and Keith both stared in awe at the ship and shifted a little uneasily when they went through the decontamination protocol.

"Welcome back, Commander. I was wonder- Eh, who are you?" Joker asked surprised when they entered.

"Don't mind him, he came with the ship, he's just an accessory." Shepard smirked.

"Hey!" came indignantly from the pilot seat, causing Keith and Rose to snicker.

"Kelly?" she asked the red-head when they approached her. "Can you give these two a tour around the ship?"

"Yes, Commander." she saluted. "So, where to first, wanna see the engine?" She directed at the two kids in front of her. Rose and Keith enthusiastically followed, completely engrossed in the wonders of the Normandy.

"EDI, can you call Jacob to the briefing room?" She said, unconsciously looking at the ceiling. The old habit of looking at a person when talking to them was hard to forget, at times she caught herself looking at certain ship parts while talking to EDI, earning amused looks from her crewmates.

"Of course, Commander." Came the immediate reply.

"You two, follow me." She directed at Miranda and the cloaked woman, the latter taking in the CIC with interest.

When Jacob joined them Shepard first properly introduced herself to the cloaked woman. "I'm Commander Shepard, as you no doubt already knew. I gather you're the infamous Kasumi Goto?"

"At your service." The woman grinned and bowed.

"We have a small problem." Shepard began, interrupted by Miranda's indignant scoff.

"Fine, we have a _big _problem." She said annoyed, then explaining the past events to Jacob, who was silent and thoughtful during the entire story.

"So what are we going to do about those two?" He asked when Shepard was done.

"Honestly, I don't know. But I'm not going to let them out of my sight until I know they're safe."

"We can't take them with us, our mission is too important. They will be a weakness and liability, Shepard." Miranda said.

"They are my family." Shepard bit back.

"Exactly, they will distract you from the task at hand. We can't just leave them on the Normandy."

"I'm sorry Shepard, I agree with Miranda on this one." Jacob said, shrugging apologetically.

"Fine, I'll find a place for them, _after _I've heard the entire story." Shepard said. She knew Miranda was right, but her gut told her that something was off about it all. She wasn't leaving them to fend for themselves when they were still in danger, though staying on the Normandy could be equally dangerous. Especially if the crew, meaning Miranda, found out that Rose was a biotic wonder, having such power without implants... This _was _Cerberus after all, this would be the chance of their lifetime, the one thing they always wanted.

And Rose had said Cerberus had already tried to take her away after all.

"-and this is Port Observation, when we're travelling through space you can sit and watch the stars, sometimes a planet." The woman who had introduced herself as Kelly told them, gesturing around the room.

Keith had been touching everything during the tour, all big-eyed and amazed. Rose couldn't deny that she thought it was cool too, but now she was starting to worry about Kay and... stuff. She hoped this wasn't a trap, she shivered every time she saw the logo on Kelly's shoulder, it held bad memories.

Kelly had noticed however, and smiled gently each time Rose tensed, turning so that the logo wasn't visible anymore. It didn't help though. It was still there.

"Shepard wants to see Rose and Keith at her quarters, Miss Chambers." A mechanical voice broke through the silence, causing both Keith and Rose to jump.

"Of course, EDI. And please, call me Kelly."

"Very well, Kelly." Came the reply.

"Who's that?" Rose asked curiously.

"EDI is the ship's artificial intelligence."

"Cool!" Came Keith's reply, causing Rose to roll her eyes. Sometimes she really doubted that he was four years older than she was.

"Come on, you two. Let's go to the loft." Kelly gestured.

"Sure." She said, then turned to Keith who was still staring at the stars. "Coming with?"

He turned and smiled. "Yup." He said, popping the 'p'.

They followed Kelly into the elevator, which made Rose feel all funny in her stomach when it moved. When they reached Kay's quarters Kelly stayed behind in the elevator, waving goodbye.

They entered through the the double doors and dropped their jaws when they saw where Kay lived.

"You have an aquarium!" She exclaimed, punching a grinning Kay playfully in the stomach.

"You still hit like a girl." Kay teased, dodging the next blow.

"I'll show you!" Rose said, going into a fighting stance.

"Easy there, sis." Keith said, jumping in front of Kay, earning a punch against his shoulder.

"Before you say anything, miss Goto there is going to take care of any lost bugs in the room." Kay thumbed over her shoulder towards a cloaked woman who waved and grinned while balancing on a nightstand.

"You have bugs? Ew." Rose wrinkled her nose. She hated bugs.

Kay chuckled, "Not for long I won't."

"I think that's the last one, Shep!" Kasumi said cheerily, eyeing the small black thing closely before crushing it between her thumb and index finger.

"Thanks Kasumi, I owe you one." Kay said, smiling gratefully.

"Any time, Shep, any time. If you want bugs installed in, let's say, Miranda's office, I'm your woman." she said with a crooked grin.

"I'm not sure If I'm _that _creepy." Kay raised her eyebrow..

"Well, if it turns out you are, you can find me in Port Observation, I'm making that my happy place." Kasumi said while walking past, flicking her finger against Rose's forehead, who rubbed it with an indignant "ow!".

"Will do, Kasumi." Kay nodded, shaking her head with a smile.

She sat down on the couch after Kasumi was gone, patting next to her to indicate Rose and Keith should sit down too. "Now, start at the beginning, and no cussing!"

"Yes, mom." Rose sneered but then sighed and turned serious.

Hesitantly she began telling the story, "It all started when I was walking past an alley. I thought I heard someone cry so I went in to look. I found this... creature. I've never seen anything like it. It was hurt and upset, so I offered to help." Rose shook her head, the memories were still vague and fragmented, "it told me to leave but I wouldn't. The last thing I remember is reaching out and then a blinding light. Next thing I know the thing's gone, like it vaporised or something."

"You've never seen anything like it, but it spoke our language?" Kay asked with her brow furrowed.

"Yeah, I was going into town for a new translator, mine was broken you see. Kinda strange to really hear how the aliens talk..." Rose's eyes went far away for a second and returned moments later. "But it spoke human language yeah."

"Do you still remember what it looked like?"

Rose shook her head. "I... I don't know, the memories are vague. Besides, it was covered in blood, kinda hard to see through that."

"Did you notice anything other than the light?" Kay asked curious, could it have been dark energy?

"Yeah, a- a feeling. It was very strange, like... like I went out of my body for a sec. Look, I don't know, Kay, it was all so weird." Rose put her head in her hands, breathing deeply. Somehow thinking about it made her head hurt.

"It's okay, just tell me when you do, okay?" Kay said gently, throwing an arm around Rose's small shoulders.

"Yeah, I will." Came the muffled reply.

"So what happened after that?"

"I went home, I had a headache like you wouldn't believe."

"She slept for two days straight, no kidding." Keith said, leaning back into the soft couch. He had heard the story before, but not what was coming now.  
"Yeah, when I woke up I felt like I'd slept for decades. Anyhow, Keith was at work and there was no food in the house, so I went outside to get some. After a while I noticed some guy had been walking behind me for pretty long, so I took a detour, to get him off my back, you know. But he kept following me." Rose shivered involuntarily and Key tightened her arm around her.

"They took me by surprise, sedated me with something, I didn't even have time to punch one of them. Next thing I know I'm waking up in the back of some kind of vehicle."

She shrugged, "I guess they hadn't expected me to because when I put up a fight they panicked and crashed. I got out because some blue shield surrounded me... I- I think I did that myself. I've had these powers ever since I saw that light."

"Was it blue?" Kay asked.

Rose shook her head. "No, I don't know. It was... green, I think."

"Anyway, turned out I was still in the wards, so I hid. I only got out when I couldn't take the hunger any more. And well, you know what happened then." Rose said, her shoulders slumping and her voice thick.

"You were scared, running for your life. It's not your fault what happened. Hell, anyone suddenly getting biotics would lose control at some point, you're only lucky it wasn't while you fell down Zakera ward."

"I suppose." Rose relucantly replied.

"I won't forget the logo those guys had on their shirts, the ones who took me. And you're working for them." Rose said, not bothering to hide the accusing tone in her voice. She shook off Kay's arm and raised, tempted to slap herself for what she just did. She had told Kay everything while she _knew _Kay worked for the ones who took her, how could she do that? How could Kay do that?

"No, I'm not." came the soft reply, stopping Rose short.

Kay stood up, her eyes dark with something that made Rose scared. She'd seen this look before, only once, and that was on the vids. In reality, it was much, much more menacing. The look when the reporter had asked Kay about a crewmate, Ashley Williams.

"I don't work _for_ them, I work _with_ them. For now. I don't like it any more than you do, Rose. But I have no choice."

"How can I trust you?" Rose asked, still unsure.

"How can you not?" Rose cringed at the hurt in Kay's voice.

"I- I'm sorry, Kay. I'm just... confused."

"I will tell the Illusive jackass that he shouldn't mess with my family, I'll throw in a few curses too, okay?" Kay said, smiling when she pulled Rose into a hug.  
"Yeah, tell him I said to fuck off." Rose muttered into shoulder.

Kay ignored the fact that rose was cussing again and smirked, "with pleasure."


	9. Of arguments and histories

**A/N: A present! From me, to you. Do enjoy.**

* * *

**Of arguments and histories**

'I have nothing to do with it, Shepard.' The words echoed through Shepard's head, but she didn't believe them. She was absolutely sure the Illusive man was lying, but she wasn't exactly in a position to make such claims. She was surrounded by them, for god's sake. Every day, every night. It was maddening. At least she had her family, and Kasumi, who turned out to be quite the addition to Shepard's squad. She was grateful for the woman's light-hearted jokes, they made all the shit surrounding Cerberus just a little more bearable. And, they provided the perfect opportunities to get on Miranda's nerve.

They were eating their dinner in silence, Kasumi next to Shepard, Rose on her other side. Keith sat facing Rose, Jacob next to him. And Miranda sat across from Shepard, who ignored the icy glares little-miss-perfect still gave her.

"She looks able to eat you alive." Kasumi whispered amused, concealing her grin with her cloak.

"I know." Shepard replied, sighing.

This was probably the result of the heated argument in her loft that had arisen after Shepard's talk with the Illusive man, where she ordered that Rose and Keith were to remain on the ship until Shepard said otherwise. Miranda, of course, refused, which made Shepard go dangerously close to the edge.

Miranda's last comment had pulled her over it.

_"I _will_ call a shuttle to take them back to the Citadel."_

_"One more word and I drop you off on an uncharted planet." Shepard said coldly, meaning every word._

_Miranda glared at her. "You wouldn't dare."_

_"Watch me." Shepard said dangerously, slight traces of her biotic powers now filled the air._

_Miranda balled her fists, ready to lash out with her next words, when Shepard turned her head away._

_"Don't." She choked out, her hands trembling with anger. Who was this woman to treat her family like that, it was her organization that caused this. Her organization that was to blame. Her dear Illusive man that told all those lies to his own employees, without them knowing it._

_Miranda said nothing, and Shepard exhaled, slowly relaxing._

_Miranda was baffled when the woman in front of her suddenly grinned, a strange glint in her eyes. "You know what, Miranda?"_

_Shepard let the words hang in the air for a while, watching Miranda's reaction._

_"Did your dear Illusive man ever tell you about our first meeting?"_

_Miranda showed no surprise, she knew they met before, she had listened to the conversation between the two on the Cerberus facility. What frustrated her though was that the Illusive man wouldn't tell her what exactly had happened at this meeting. Shepard was disappointed to see the lack of surprise on Miranda's face, but then again, the woman had probably been spying on her 24/7 since she had woken up._

_"No, he hasn't." Miranda truthfully answered, she saw no point in lying._

_Shepard scoffed. "Typical."_

_Miranda clenched her jaw, biting back the remark she wanted to say. She couldn't deny she was curious about the relation between her boss and her Commander. If she knew what played between the two, she could maybe find the right buttons to push and get the Commander to cooperate with her instead of opposing everything she did._

_"He asked me to join Cerberus." Shepard said after the short silence, smirking when she finally saw surprise on Miranda's face._

_"Back when I was still with the tenth street reds, he came to me, said he saw potential in me. I refused."_

_Did Miranda hear that right or was there some bitterness behind these words?_

_Shepard grinned. "He really, really didn't like that."_

_"Why are you telling me this?" Miranda asked._

_"To clarify a fact you don't seem to understand." Her grin changed into a menacing scowl faster than Miranda could blink. "I. Don't. Like. Cerberus. As long as you're their lapdog, I won't follow you around like a dog on a leash." Her expression grew even darker. "I am my own, and I am your Commander."_

_She had never seen the Commander like this, not even on the vids, not even when she lost Ashley Williams on Virmire. Miranda didn't know how to react, nothing she had read or seen about the Commander had prepared her for this. She hated to be put on the spot like this without knowing what is was she did to cause this reaction. Sure, she had shown that she didn't support Shepard's decisions, but being attacked like this just for being with Cerberus? She had her own reasons, and Shepard needed to respect that._

_"Commander." she called to the woman that had turned on her heels and was walking away, "I have my reasons to be with Cerberus, don't judge me by the organisation I'm working for."_

_"__You're certainly making that damn hard for me." Shepard replied, then left the room._

_She sighed as she walked away, rubbing her forehead in an attempt to wipe away the scowl she knew was there. She had lost it that moment, letting her old hatred for Cerberus resurface. She shouldn't have been that hard on Miranda, but it was so damn difficult. She felt locked up, driven in a corner. The Illusive man finally had her within his grasp, after all these years that she had thought it was behind her..._

_It never really had been._

_You could even go as far as saying everything that had happened in her life since that very first meeting, was connected to Cerberus, more so running away from them. Now that she couldn't run she defended herself the only way she knew, with her hatred._

"Hmm, you do look quite tasty." Kasumi said, the smile audible in the way she said the words.

Shepard was abruptly pulled back from her thoughts and choked on her food. "What?!"

"Just kidding, Shepard." Kasumi assured her amused, patting the Commander's shoulder, winking at Keith who was grinning widely, nudging his giggling sister.

Miranda made a disapproving sound as Shepard muttered curses while she cleaned her now stained shirt.

"Jealous?" Kasumi turned to her, receiving a cocked eyebrow and a cold glare.

"I'm not sure what you're referring to, Shepard's 'tasty' looks or your failed attempt at flirting."

The entire table fell silent then. Jacob suddenly found his dinner _very _interesting and Keith and Rose shared a _look_, then tried not to stare at their aunt.

Shepard almost choked on her food, _again_. Receiving unhelpful pats on her back from Kasumi, who was clearly very amused by Miranda's reaction.

"You are _so_ jealous."

"I forgot I was surrounded by teenagers, excuse me." Miranda said, raising from her seat and taking her plate with her. She walked toward her office without looking back, not even when the thief laughed and turned to the others, "She won't ever admit it, but I know Miranda likes Shepard."

"Kasumi!" came the indignant reply of Shepard, who had turned red with the lack of oxygen.

Miranda entered her office and sat down on her chair with a huff, setting her half-eaten dinner down next to her terminal. She wanted to get back to work, to finish her report to the Illusive man. She considered asking him about what Shepard had told her, but decided that it was probably better not to mention it.

The Illusive man didn't have to know about it, the loft was purged of the bugs he placed there anyway. A wry smile came onto her face as she thought about it, she was sure Shepard and Kasumi assumed she didn't know, yet.

But she had watched, amused, as the thief removed the bugs, the screens going dark one by one. It didn't matter, she would put up new ones soon enough.

Her mind went back to Kasumi's words just now, and Shepard's reaction to them. Miranda couldn't understand how the woman could be so furious with her, and hours later she was acting like a damn teenager. How could she work with a woman like that? She wasn't even able to find what drove the woman, what would be a good approach to get the woman to listen to Miranda, instead of flat-out refusing her presence.

She hated Shepard for it.

Miranda had always been superior. Maybe the only person that had ever earned her respect was the Illusive man, and he was shrouded in mystery. But not enough mystery to hide the fact that he wasn't one to mess with.

But now she was put down repeatedly, degraded by a woman she, as it turned out, barely knew. A woman who was considered a hero by humans and aliens alike. Shepard reminded her of her father, the man who acted as her superior, the man who built her to be perfection itself, but looked down on her nonetheless.

She was, like him, out of reach and in control of her life, and there was nothing Miranda could do about it.

She shook her head and pushed the thoughts away, she shouldn't be thinking like this. Shepard could be different.

It was all she hoped for.

For now, Miranda liked to think there were two reasons she stayed. One: she got the job done, no matter the circumstances. She wasn't about to change that. Two: she may not like the Commander, but the cause she, no, _they_, were fighting for, was just. Abandoning this mission may very well result in disaster. Shepard may not believe it, but Miranda was a necessary asset.

She sighed, so was Shepard.

Shepard laid on her back, staring through the window in the outer hull of the Normandy, exactly above her bed.

They had set course for Omega, much to Miranda's satisfaction. She had been right though, Mordin would be a necessary asset if they were going to take on the Collectors. She shuddered as she thought of the insect-like creatures locked up in the lab beneath her, courtesy of the Illusive man. The 'seeker-swarms' as Veetor had called them.

She sure as hell wasn't looking forward to the day where she would encounter the unleashed kind.

"Dr. Chakwas would like to speak to you, Commander Shepard." EDI's voice broke the silence.

"Tell her I'll come see her after I've rested." Shepard replied.

"Yes, Commander."

She sighed, putting a hand behind her head. Sleep was pretty much out of the question, too much had happened today. Too much had happened since her _second _life started. Her thoughts drifted towards Miranda and guilt filled her. The woman hadn't done anything to her, expect being a part of Cerberus. And Shepard had treated her like dirt, worse.

She groaned and rubbed her forehead, realizing that she would have to apologize to Miranda. If the woman even let her come within a radius two meters after today.

"Thinking of Miranda?" Sounded near to her.

"Hello Kasumi." Shepard said, not changing her position. She had heard the woman coming into the room, another thing that hadn't been possible before she... died.

"How did you know?" Kasumi asked, disappointed when the commander wasn't startled.

"I could hear you." Shepard replied.

"Is this the moment I find out you can change into a bat and you suck people's blood? I assure you, mine tastes like crap."

"huh?" Came Shepard's unintelligent reply, she did sit up now, giving the Japanese thief a weird look.

"Know your classics, Shepard. Bram Stoker, Dracula, one of the best books ever written?" Kasumi said, making a mental note to let Shepard read some of her books. The Commander needed some real education.

Shepard's clueless look said enough and Kasumi sighed. "Pretty much all the vampire stuff is based on that book." She narrowed her eyes. "You _do _know vampires, don't you?"

"Of course, Kasumi. I'm not _that _clueless."

"Good, for a moment I feared you were." She smirked.

"Hey!" Shepard sputtered indignantly. Kasumi was just in time to duck, because a pillow sailed over her head and hit the empty rack behind her with a dull thud.

"For a soldier your aim's pretty bad." She teased, dancing around the barrage of pillows Shepard fired at her.

"For a thief your sneaking skill is pretty bad." Shepard retorted.

"Touché, I knew you had it in you." Kasumi smirked

Shepard laughed and then fell back on the bed. "Thanks for coming."

"Any time, Shep. You're not the only one who needs a break now and then." Kasumi said, the words coming out darker than she intended.  
Shepard's smile disappeared and she looked at Kasumi concerned, but the thief waved it away. "Forget I said anything. Now, about your education..."

"Education?"

"I'm going to teach you about the classics." Kasumi said. "And don't look so horrified, I know you can read."

Rose snuck down to the CIC through the maintenance-tunnelthat began in the med bay, which was currently deserted. Most of the people were asleep, only the necessary personnel manned the Normandy, giving Rose the chance to explore on her own.

Kelly had shown her the lab next to the CIC, and what she had seen there had spiked her curiosity. Insect-like creatures that, as Kelly explained, could paralyse humans with their stingers. She said something about 'Collectors' too, but to be honest she wasn't paying much attention by then. Something about the creatures was oddly fascinating.

She entered the lab unseen, shivering when her bare feet met the cold metal floor. She immediately walked over to the see-through box containing the insects. They started attacking their cage when Rose approached, restless and frantic.

She wondered why the creatures behaved like that when she approached, probably because they wanted her blood or something. The things made her think of mosquitoes back on earth. She _hated _mosquitoes.

But then again, she hated anything that was small, buzzing or crawling.

As she took another step closer to the box a hologram flickered to life, feeding her information about the creatures and the state of the box. Temperature, pressure, bodily fluids, name it.

She curiously flicked through the files, taking in the information, when she encountered a command panel.

"This course of action is inadvisable." A mechanical voice informed her, coming out of nowhere.

She jumped and accidentally touched one of the buttons of the hologram. Suddenly, the entire room was filled with buzzing, and she saw the creepy bugs flooding out of the box, coming right at her.

"Fuuuck!" She yelled and thrust her hand forward instinctively, calling up a shield. The creatures rattled against it, unable to enter.

An alarm began screeching. Her head jerked to the side when she heard the door open, revealing a man. First there was surprise on his face, then it turned into horror when he was attacked by a swarm of the insects. Before he could so much as utter a cry, he was paralysed, staying perfectly still with his mouth opened in a half-scream.

"I'm so dead." Rose groaned when she saw the bugs fly into the CIC.

"So dead."

* * *

**I believe this is my very first real cliffhanger! Don't worry, there will be more. ;)**


	10. Off the chain

**A/N: So yes, it's been ages since I uploaded, I apologise for that! I am an evil person, to keep you hanging with that cliffhanger so long! Anyhow, I'm kinda rewriting this story from the beginning, so don't expect a new chapter any time soon. Though I will tell you when I'm done rewriting (probably when I post the next chapter) so that if you want, you can start fresh at the beginning and everything will add up (no loose ends, better writing, etc.).  
This one's for dorkynoodle! :D  
**

* * *

**Off the chain**

"I strongly advice against this course of action, Shepard." EDI's voice reached Shepard's ear.

"To hell with that!" She yelled, ready to bash down the door if that was needed. This AI wasn't telling her what to do, especially now she knew what was going on on the lower decks.

"Calm down, Shep. We just need to-" Kasumi began, but her words were cut off when a tremor went through the floor they were standing on.  
"Sitrep, EDI!" Shepard yelled at the door, which mocked her by staying closed.

"Something is blocking my sensors, Shepard." It replied, not as cold and emotionless as Shepard had expected to. She still had to get used to the idea that the shackled AI even had preferences and something resembling emotions.

"Keep trying." Shepard pressured.

Another tremor went through the Normandy, almost throwing Shepard and Kasumi off balance. EDI's holographic image flickered and Shepard feared that the AI would go offline but its voice sounded clear as ever when it told her an astounding piece of information, "Jeff has been stung, Commander. And Rose is resisting the creatures."

"What!? How?" Came the baffled reply.

"He was stung by the seeker swarm."

"No, not that, Rose!" She said impatiently.

"She appears to be using a biotic shield to keep the swarms out."

Shepard glanced at Kasumi, whose face was a mix of surprise and amusement. "It seems your little niece is of more use than any of us expected."

Shepard frowned, even though Kasumi's words were true, she wondered how Rose managed to be the only one still moving while there were people down there who were supposed to be better at this, in every sense of the word. She had a crew of specialists for god's sake!

"I need to get down there, EDI." Shepard said, ignoring the fact that she had no idea how to fly this ship properly. She had learned to fly, yes, but the Normandy wasn't an average ship. She made a mental note to ask Joker to teach her after this situation was resolved, just in case.

"Acknowledged." The AI replied, and the door to the elevator slipped open.

"Shepard, do you even have a plan?" Kasumi asked, her voice rid of the common amusement as she followed the Commander into the elevator.

"Not really." Shepard said, the wheels inside her head still turning, trying to find a way to fix all this. She smirked unconsciously. "But I never really do."

"EDI, keep the doors closed until I say otherwise." Shepard told the AI while the elevator made its way downwards.

"Yes, Commander." It replied.

A few nerve-racking tremors went through the elevator, making the two women eye the control panel nervously. This wasn't good. Not at all.  
The elevator stopped but the doors didn't open as Shepard had ordered.

"Ready?" she asked the thief next to her.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Kasumi replied, the ever-present smile on her face, though somewhat weak.

"EDI, open the doors."

When the doors slid open to reveal the CIC Shepard reacted fast and called up a biotic shield, enveloping both herself and Kasumi. An almost deafening rattling filled their ears, but it wasn't coming from the ship. The seeker-swarms were attacking the blue shield, throwing themselves at high speed against the barrier. Some even crushing themselves in the act.

"Holy-" Shepard began, but didn't have the heart to finish that sentence. The bugs were everywhere, and there were frozen bodies scattered across the entire CIC. Some wide-eyed and caught mid-action, some unknowing and frozen behind their terminal.

"Was it like this on Freedom's Progress?" Kasumi almost yelled to become audible over the buzzing and rattling.

"No, nothing like it. It was completely empty there." Shepard shuddered, this must be how the colonists felt during the actual attack. The ones that weren't caught immediately that is.

She took a small step forward, ensuring that Kasumi stayed close enough to say in the blue globe around her.

"Rose?" She called out, flinching whenever one of the creatures bumped against the shield hard enough to get squashed.

"Kay!" Came from her left. Shepard's head whipped to the side and she saw Rose running towards them from the armory,a blue shield around her too.

It was a strange sight to see the insects part like the red sea when Rose ran over to them, not even looking bothered by the creatures.

"Thank god I thought they got you too!" Rose said relieved, her eyes big and scared, flitting between the thief and her aunt.

"It takes more than this to get Shepard down." Kasumi smirked.

"I do hope so." Shepard replied dryly.

"Have a plan yet?" the thief directed at Shepard.

"Well..."

She sighed, "I hope you're as good at improvising as I think you are."

"You don't know how to fly an Alliance ship suddenly, do you?" Shepard turned to Rose with a hopeful smile, only half joking.

"...not really." Rose said, not sure how to react. Kay was so weird sometimes. She chuckled mentally, at least she knew now from which side of the family she got her strange mood-swings.

"Do you know who did this?" Kasumi suddenly asked.

"I uh... Well..." Rose mumbled, her cheeks flushing when she looked at her own feet.

Shepard groaned. "Don't tell me it was you."

"I..." She staggered. "I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen, it was an accident, I swear! I-"

"Rose!" Shepard interrupted her, "have you gone mad?! Why were you even down here in the first place?"

"I just... I was curious. I said I'm sorry! EDI scared me and I kinda tripped and pushed a button. Those things came out and then someone came through the door, they escaped!"

Shepard opened her mouth to lecture Rose but a hand on her arm stopped her. She turned her head so see Kasumi shaking her head.

"Now isn't the time." She said.

"Right." Shepard sighed. "It doesn't matter now. We have to set the ship down."

"O-okay... But how are we going to do that?" Rose asked, looking at Shepard with those big brown doe eyes she always pulled when she was scared.

"I don't know." Shepard said frustrated.

"Shepard, my sensors read a significant elevation of biotic levels in Miss Lawson's office." EDI informed them.

"Miranda's still...?" Shepard asked hopefully, unsure how to finishing that sentence because 'alive' wasn't a fitting word in this situation. Walking? Aware? In control?

"I cannot say, Miss Lawson has removed all camera's in her room."

"Don't you have infra-red sensors or something?" Rose said suddenly, earning surprised looks from both Shepard and Kasumi.

"What? She could see Miranda's body-heat or something." Rose shrugged

Shepard coughed awkwardly, "good point, EDI?"

"It's increasingly difficult to function, Commander. The seeker-swarms are transmitting a signal to an unknown destination that blocks most of my functions."

"Why didn't you say that before?!" Shepard asked shocked.

"You did not ask, Commander."

"You just- That's-" Shepard took a deep breath to reign in her anger and forced her voice to sound calm. "Next time a dangerous situation like this occurs, I'd like you to tell me about such things, EDI."

"Yes, Commander." the AI replied.

"Now move!" she barked at Kasumi and Rose, who quickly followed her back into the elevator. The short way to the Crew's Quarters was tense, Shepard couldn't stand still and tapped her foot impatiently. The elevator speed had improved significantly compared to the one in the original Normandy, but now nothing seemed to go fast enough.

Luckily none of the swarms had followed them back into the elevator, so they had a moment to catch their breath. Shepard ignored the nagging feeling that told her she was getting tired and that her biotic powers wouldn't last for much longer. When they arrived on their destination she braced herself however, and called up her shield again when the doors opened. Rose quickly did the same, unaware of Shepard's draining power.

Shepard stormed off towards Miranda's office, pulling her gun and shooting at every creature that came too close. Rose and Kasumi followed behind, but Rose forced Kasumi to go slow so she could talk to her without Shepard hearing them.

"What's gotten into her?" Rose said, loud enough for Kasumi to hear but soft enough so that Shepard couldn't.

"The signal the swarms are transmitting." Kasumi said while keeping close inside the shield.

"Yeah?"

"To whom do you think it goes?" the thief's eyes met Rose's for a heartbeat.

Rose's eyes widened when she realised what it meant, "The Collectors... They know where we are!"

"Exactly. We need to be fast, and Shepard knows that." Kasumi returned her gaze in front of her.

Shepard looked back impatiently when she stood in front of Miranda's door, giving them both a glare when she saw them talk quietly.

"This isn't the time for banter, you two!" she said, trying to remain calm.

"Yes, commander." they replied. The word sounded off coming from Rose.

"Kasumi, stay close to Rose. Rose, you open this door. I will run in and try to get Miranda into my shield. Ready?"

Rose nodded and Kasumi said the familiar 'Yes, Commander'. Rose walked over to the door and touched the hologram. As the door slid open she braced herself, concentration of keeping her shield up the best she could.

Before Shepard could even step forward the three of them were hit by a wall of blue light coming through the door.

Shepard and Rose flew backwards and were sent sprawling to the ground. Kasumi, who had been behind Rose, was pushed out of the biotic shield that Rose could barely maintain during her fall.

Shepard used the momentum of the shockwave to roll backwards and push herself back on her feet again, quickly restoring the shield around her. She wasn't fast enough to protect Kasumi however.

Said woman tried cloaking to avoid the creatures, but The swarm didn't stop and the thief was stung halfway through cloaking, transforming her in a see-through statue of the Japanese woman.

"Shit!" Shepard cursed as Rose scrambled to her feet, her eyes glued to the new glass-like statue.

"Shepard?" Came from the room, and soon followed a slightly dishevelled looking Miranda, surrounded by her own blue shield, "I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you."

Her eyes went to Rose and widened slightly, she pursed her lips but said nothing. Rose was tempted to make a scathing remark but that'd only result in a rant from Kay, and since she was probably still royally mad at Rose it was best not to get on her nerve. Especially since there was no Kasumi around to save her ass any more.

"Miranda, do you know how to fly this ship?" Shepard asked, getting straight to the point.

"To a limited extent, what did you have in mind?" Came Miranda's reluctant reply.

"We need to go through the relay and land on Omega, Mordin is the only one who can undo this situation." She briefly glanced at Rose who was fidgeting nervously with a guilty look on her face. "Can you do that?"

Miranda sighed frowning. "I can't... but EDI can."

"EDI?" Shepard said baffled.

"If we release her from her chains she can get full control of the ship. She'd be able to get us to Omega safely."

"It, it's an it." Shepard said sharply.

"Do you truly believe that?" Miranda quirked an eyebrow.

"How many geth have you encountered, Miranda." Shepard crossed her arms.

"Shepard, now isn't the time for that discussion." Miranda bit back.

"I can damn well decide if-" Shepard said, the dark energy around her wavering dangerously.

"Kay, the collectors!" Rose suddenly blurted out, interrupting the Commander. She was getting more nervous with the second and standing here doing nothing wasn't helping.

Shepard scowled and bowed her head, thinking it over, searching for other possibilities, other ways out. But she could find none. Eventually she looked up, first at Miranda then at Rose, who felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment.

Shepard sighed, grumbling to herself before she uncrossed her arms and clasped them behind her back, "EDI, is it true you are capable of getting us to Omega if we release you from your chains?"

"Yes, Commander." came her reply.

"Very well, how do we release you?" she said.

Even though it was her idea, Miranda was surprised to see Shepard comply so easily. She had expected a heated argument, a yelling Commander, not... this. Especially considering her past with the geth as she so subtly pointed out. Rose, as opposed to her presence as Miranda was, had more influence on the Commander than was healthy. This could be a rare opportunity, if she could get Rose on her side... But that was easier said that done, she was a child, a stubborn, unpredictable teenager that had more power than she should. And there was the Illusive man, who couldn't wait to get his hands on this 'special case'. And then came Shepard, overprotective as she was. Miranda sighed, why was it that everything connected to Shepard came with more crap than was healthy for a person to deal with?

Luckily Miranda wasn't an average person.

Anyhow, Miranda should be grateful for Shepard's lack of protest, but why did it only make her more annoyed with the woman? She knew why, she'd just never admit that she couldn't read the Commander as well as she could with normal people. She'd just never admit that this woman could surprise her when Miranda thought she had seen everything, in a good way or a bad way.

After Miranda connected the AI core to the Normandy's primary control module, EDI guided them from the core down into engineering, Only one of them had a biotic shield, saving energy that way. The other two just had to be careful and keep close. It turned out that Rose had a surprisingly high supply of dark energy, which earned her a few suspicious glares from Miranda and thoughtful ones from Shepard.

She didn't really understand why, they were biotics like her, right? Sure she didn't have those implants to enhance her abilities, so she was a little more talented than the average person. So what? Yeah, those powers had come to her suddenly after having contact with a strange alien... that didn't mean anything.

Did it?

She'd ask it as soon as they solved the mess she made. She groaned internally when she thought of how mad Kay could get. She had seen krogan, pissed, violent and bloodthirsty krogan, but they had nothing on Kay. Hell, she'd bet a thousand creds that Shepard could make a Reaper cower in fear. She snickered softly, wouldn't that be something?

"I have to activate the drive, Shepard." Miranda said with her back to them, her focus on the terminal in front of her.

"Do it." Shepard said, her voice still laced with anger. She wasn't happy with this situation, at all. EDI was unpredictable, she could go rogue on them for all she knew. But the situation left her no choice, there was no other way. Or they'd have to risk their own death and that of everyone on the Norman-

"I have assumed control." EDI's mechanical voice said as the lights around them went out.

And now there was no going back.

* * *

**Don't kill me!**


End file.
